The Intersection

You have to like a book (and a "business" book no less) that starts off:

Peter's Cafe sits on a hillside in Horta, a port city on one of the Azores islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. By the time you reach the docks in the harbor, you can tell that this place is special. Bright, colorful paintings of sailboats and flags line the piers - hundreds and hundreds of them, drawn by visiting captains and crew members from every corner of the globe. Horta is the one place between the Americas and Europe where world-traveling sailors stop to take a break. Some are heading toward Fiji, others to Spain. Some are on their second tour around the world; others are simply resting before the last leg to Brazil. They come from different backgrounds and cultures. And all of them converge upon the rustic-looking Peter's Cafe. Here they can pick up year-old letters from other world travelers or just sit and talk over a beer or a glass of Madeira.

When I saw this place for the first time, I realized that the serene environment of the cafe actually concealed a chaotic universe. The cafe was filled with ideas and viewpoints from all corners of the world, and these ideas were intermingling and colliding with each other.

"Get this, they don't use hooks when fishing for marlin in Cuba," one visitor says.
"So what do they use?" another asks.
"Rags. The lure is covered in rags. When the fish strikes the rag, it wraps around the fish bill and won't let go because of the friction. The fish don't get hurt and can be released, no problem."
"That's pretty neat. Maybe we could use something like that..."

The people here participate in what seems like an almost random combination of ideas. One conversation leads to another, and it is difficult to guess what idea will come up next. Peter's Cafe is a nexus point in the world, one of the most extreme I have ever seen.

There is another place just like Peter's Cafe, but it is not in the Azores. It is in our minds. It is a place where different cultures, domains, and disciplines stream together toward a single point. They connect, allowing for established concepts to clash and combine, ultimately forming a multitude of new, groundbreaking ideas. This place, where the different fields meet, is what I call the Intersection. And the explosion of remarkable innovations that you find there is what I call the Medici Effect. This book is about how to create it. - The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and Cultures

I'm really enjoying The Medici Effect and will write more about it. BTW, I think the blogosphere and the super secret start-up mimic qualities of Peter's Cafe.

Comments

[Oliver]

Hi !
I'd like to know what is Peter's Cafe Website ?
Thanks !