Here at Seismonaut we constantly keep ourselves up to date with the most relevant literature to the area we are working in. One of the essential books is The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson, even though it is already a little old (2004).
The main argument of the book is that since almost every scientific field has been explored very thoroughly in many years, it is now necessary to search for new ideas in the intersection between different fields and cultures. By exploring the intersection you will then be able to gain entirely new insights and ideas. One example used in the book to support this argument is the story of Marcus Samuelson, who had huge success as a chef at the famous New York restaurant aquavit, because he was able to create unique combinations of food. Why did he get success? The answer is that he had lived his whole life in the intersection, because he had worked as a chef all over the world and he was able to combine his knowledge about very different food cultures and in that way create his own new combinations of food.
But how can the book help one like me that have not travelled all over the world and explored different fields? Can I use the Medici effect to gain ideas? According to the book everybody can take advantage of The Medici Effect. The trick is to think in a different way and to pursue the intersections, where ideas might rise. Frans Johansson explains that you must break down your associative barriers. Just like Marcus Samuelsson who was open minded to the idea of combining caramel and lobster even though a normal chef would normally have associative barriers which would prevent him from seeing the opportunities in such a combination.
All in all Frans Johansson’s book does a good job of explaining why and how to use The Medici Effect to come up with completely new ideas. The arguments are strong and the examples are relevant and interesting. The only drawback is that the book suffers from the same problem as many other American books. It is simply to long for its own good. The book is only about 200 pages long, but that is still a lot of pages that is used to write about the same concept.
My advice: Check it out. The book will give you a lot to think about, but maybe you do not need to read every single page, since the book eventually becomes a little repetitive.

At The Medici Effect blog you can see many more examples on how The Medici Effect creates new innovations by combining different fields.