To me this runs counter to the Feynman quote “What we need is imagination, but imagination in a terrible strait-jacket”. I always took it to mean that if you don’t know what others have done you will be very limited by the bounds of your imagination.
I have recently been converting my lawn to clover. It out-competes the weeds that were taking over, and requires less watering and mowing than grass. I would definitely recommend.
The philosophy in the book went over my head, but I enjoyed learning about the Prague Spring.