This is one of those books that defines academic, an immense collection of chapters from distinguished scholars on a big topic. The theme of the book is systems innovation, what it takes to be innovative on a national scale. Unfortunately, this book is extremely dense and very broad. If you're new to the field, you'll almost certainly be confused to inaction. If you're a practitioner, you probably know everything in it already. One chapter warns against "theories of innovation become so complex that they are impossible for policymakers to understand or implement." Indeed.