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This is a book for the armchair thinker. There are no equations, no syllogisms, and no exercises with the solutions at the back of the book.

If you could not fail, what would you attempt?

In Advice to Rocket Scientists , I talk about two bricklayers who are asked by a young boy what they are doing. The first bricklayer is annoyed at the question and says, “Can’t you see? I’m laying bricks.” The second says with a gleam in his eye, “I’m building a cathedral!”

Rocket scientists aim high. They reach for the moon and beyond. Their dreams are gigantic in scale. They may not always achieve their goals, but they know that you never hit a target that you don’t aim at. (As hockey great Wayne Gretsky said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”) Sometimes their dreams come true, but even when they don’t, the achievements of rocket scientists are great.

Unfortunately, when we talk about creativity, about generating new ideas, and about solving difficult problems, most people become stiff and formal. You may think that creativity is an activity left to the erudite—the well-mannered professor, the dignified inventor in a lab coat, the rocket scientist (our hero). There is a strong tendency to become judgmental and critical, to get serious, and to not be creative at all.

The first step to knowledge—to finding the answer—is to eliminate what isn’t true. Thomas Edison, during his struggle to create the incandescent light bulb, performed thousands of unsuccessful trials. When reporters asked him what he thought about his lack of progress, he replied: “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work!”

“You’ve got to have ganas —desire,” Mr. Escalante told his high school class of Mexican-American students in East Los Angeles. “Desire to know.”

The importance of storytelling and listening to stories being told can hardly be exaggerated. Stories capture our imaginations, create our myths, and mold our beliefs and values. Stories give our lives meaning; they integrate our brains.

You need your rest—and so does your brain. No one knows why.

When Kennedy made this statement in May 1961, the United States had very little to go on. We had no micro electronics, no portable computers, no deep-space communications network, no giant rockets, no lunar navigation system, and practically no manned space flight experience.America had yet to put a man in orbit around Earth, let alone go to the moon.