Tachikawa has been studying the connection between design and language, and he believes the source of human creativity comes from language. And the key to the evolution of living things is the mutation of the DNA which is very similar to language.
DNA copying errors can be likened to the mispronunciation and mishearing of language. Based on this assumption, Tachikawa theorizes that evolution and creativity produce similar patterns of mutation.

Similar patterns found in the evolution of living things are also evident in diverse human inventions and cultures. Evolutional Creativity applies these similar patterns to the creative process. The errors resulting in new ideas are categorized into nine types.

By using the nine mutation patterns of Variate, Disappear, Integrate, Reverse, Separate, Substitute, Assimilate, Transit, and Proliferate as tools from a toolbox, we can generate a large number of coincidental errors to create many ideas in a short amount of time. These are mutated ideas.

So how do we select a good idea from these types of errors? In the natural world, we can observe how living things make selections to adapt to their environment. If we learn from the natural scientist’s long-refined approach to observing the natural world, we might be able to select adaptative ideas.

While studying different observation methods in the natural sciences, Tachikawa noticed that there were only four perspectives encompassing both time and space. Each one was an established, biological observation system.
The four perspectives are Anatomy to understand internal parts, Ecosystem to understand the external environment, Lineage to understand the development of the genealogy, and Prediction to contemplate the future with the two Forecast and Backcast approaches. He systematized these four Adaptative methods and named them Spatial-Temporal Learning. By analyzing the conditions through these four perspectives encompassing time and space, we can understand how society is pressured into making the inevitable choices it makes. We can then counter them accordingly by selecting solid ideas.

Evolutional Creativity is a way of thinking to conjure up creative concepts that can survive for a ong time while using and alternating between the two ideas of Mutation and Selection.
(The first edition of the book Evolutional Creativity used the expression “mutation and adaptation” in reference to the coincidental mutation and natural selection aiming for adaptation. However, the revised edition has changed the expression to “mutation and selection” to be more in line with academic correctness.)

In April 2021, Evolutional Creativity went on sale as the first book published by Amanokaze, the first publisher to be founded in Ama, Shimane Prefecture, on a remote island with a population of about 2,000 near the national border. Despite being published in a remote location, the book became Amazon Japan’s No. 1 bestseller in the Business & Economics category. Within one week of its release, it sold 30,000 copies in three printings. Book sales have continued to expand widely.

The book has also won numerous awards in Japan. One of them was the Yamamoto Shichihei Prize, a prestigious academic award given once every few years to humanities books that epitomize Japan. The selection committee consisted of two biologists (anatomist Takeshi Yoro and evolutionary biologist Mariko Hasegawa), social science economist Motoshige Ito, political scientist Terumasa Nakanishi, and legal scholar Hidetsugu Yagi. The book received academic acclaim beyond the humanities and sciences.

With Evolutional Creativity, we want to prove that we can change the world even from a remote location. We also want to spread this new creativity education program to the world.

The book was designed by Tachikawa, the author himself.
He wanted the book to continue to be beloved beyond the current times. Inspired by geological strata built up for eons, he decided on a rock-like design and texture. It was also a tribute to the geological research of James Hutton who influenced Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
The book cover uses an embossed patterned paper (named “Iwa-hada” or rock surface) with a rock-like texture, on which a marble pattern is printed. As the book edges also have the same marble pattern, the 500+ page book looks like a thick and solid stone brick. Also, by eliminating decorative elements as much as possible and having a minimalist design, a uniform color tone is maintained. It is a timeless, attractive book design unswayed by any design trends.

The book’s title logo shows the four kanji characters (進 化 思 考) in transition based on the Evolutional Creativity mutation patterns of Proliferate, Assimilate, Reverse, and Variate. When the paper cover is removed, the book cover shows the same four kanji characters as visual representations of the four ideas of spatial-temporal learning: Anatomy, Lineage, Ecosystem, and Prediction.
The printed logo might look black when looking straight from above, but it appears brown when looking from an angle. This effect was created through the Murata Kimpaku Company’s “coffee brown” hot stamping foil and is designed to look like faintly sparkling jewels embedded in the marble.

As Tachikawa is both the book designer and author, he could effectively design the typesetting of the main content by using wrap-around text to integrate the illustrations into the text. The book index also has a marble pattern to make it easier to find topics and reread the text.

Leveraging the fact that the book originated from creativity workshops at companies and universities, it includes 50 workshops that encourage creative thinking. Rather than being just a textbook to be read, you can also try and put your creative ideas into practice. Despite the book’s length of over 500 pages, it is easy to read and easy to use. It can be used as a frequent reference or encyclopedia to look up “creativity” and “biological evolution” topics.