I read Ender’s Game yesterday. I lost myself frequently in Orson Scott Card’s future where the world monitors its children’s abilities as the best way to prepare a global military for a return attack by an extraterrestrial foe.
You know, the usual.
It’s as much about strategy and philosophy as it is about story.
This passage will stick with me for a while:
“I need you be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven’t seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they’re absolutely stupid”…Bean heard him climb into bed. He got up from the floor and did likewise. He thought of a half dozen ideas before he went to sleep. Ender would be pleased – every one of them was stupid.”
It’s a mission statement for an actual mission.
What if this was above your desk:
Be clever. Think of solutions to problems we haven’t seen yet. Try things that no one has ever tried because they’re absolutely stupid.
That would inspire.