Book Brief: Invent Now
Introducing Third Space Moonshots
Brief Summary
Title: Invent Now: The Next Leap in Moonshots
Author: Salima Bhimani, PhD
Published: 2026 by Wiley
What it Teaches: Invent Now applies the lessons the author learned as chief strategist for Google’s moonshots to problems that can only be solved by a complex ecosystem.
When To Use It: At its core, Invent Now is a call to solve the big hairy problems that have been unapproachable until now. These are challenges that no single entity can solve on their own. If you feel that call, then Invent Now may be insightful for you.
Brief Review
The publicists for Invent Now kindly provided an advance review copy of the book for my review.
Salima Bhimani is a smart lady with an impressive career. The book focuses on her time as chief strategist within Google’s Other Bets organization (better known as “moonshots”). The first part of the book draws lessons from those experiences — what is admirable and can be applied elsewhere, what is unique to Google and hard to replicate, and what is perhaps an opportunity to act differently, better. She then introduces the concept of “third-space moonshots” and explains how they build upon the traditional moonshot concept, but reach further.
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I don’t think she ever clearly defines the term, but third-space moonshots seem to represent world-changing initiatives built where three forces meet:
- Advanced technology (e.g. AI or robotics)
- Large, overlooked systems with a complex problem
- Human ingenuity distributed across the people and organizations affected by the problem
No single person or organization can solve the problem. Like traditional moonshots, the problem has generally been considered impossible to solve, and solving it will take tremendous commitment of resources over a long period of time.
The rest of the book provides guidance on how to take on these types of moonshots.
While the author has much to contribute, I found the book very difficult to approach. It wasn’t clear until I was well into the book what she was hoping to accomplish. Where most books explain up front why a reader should read it and often will lay out what readers should expect along the journey, that was largely missing from Invent Now. Instead, the preface merely told us “This book is not an exercise in belief or optimism. It is about accessing the collective intelligence already active in the world — and placing technology, capital, and imagination where unprecedented value and possibility can emerge.”
At times, the book’s content was well organized and helpful. At other times it felt like a stream of consciousness journey through the author’s memories of her time at Google. Large sections of the book sounded AI-generated. Sometimes the author seemed to be writing to a Silicon Valley audience, using “insider” terminology and assuming shared experiences. All of those factors contributed to my struggles to get into the flow of the book and to get excited about where it might take me.
It wasn’t until page 70 that the vision for the book became clear. If you are called to solve the world’s biggest problems, don’t give up on the book in those first 70 pages. There are nuggets of insight throughout the book that might serve you well.
It is interesting that Invent Now was released the same day as Global By Design, which is focused on solving the same types of big hairy problems. I commend the practical guidance of Global By Design to those embracing the Invent Now’s call.
Bottom Line
At the same time that I was reading Invent Now, my wife was reading a biography of William Wilberforce, who in his life worked with a broad ecosystem to abolish slavery in the British Empire and to address many other major societal issues, most of which bear the same characteristics as the author’s third-space moonshots. The Faith Driven Movements community has turned its attention to solving the world’s biggest problems. The U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to solve complex energy and health challenges. The Gates Foundation has its Global Grand Challenges. Ashoka is focused on Systems Change. MIT’s Solve initiative has supported over 100 challenges since 2015.
Many are called to solve the world’s hard problems. If you are one of them, you might appreciate Invent Now.
