How Creativity Works

I just finished a great book by Jonah Lehrer. "Imagine:  How Creativity Works". It delves into how we as humans use our imagination and the machinations behind the process that goes into insight, epiphany, and the creative process. It delves into the brain to show you what is firing and why. It also explains the whys and wherefores of creative people. Why do some have it and some do not. How can we use this book to gain insight in our own lives. This is not a self help book. This is a straightforward scientific treatise on imagination written for the layman. I found it to be compelling and thought provoking in and of itself. The book is written so well you'll feel smart reading it. Jonah Lehrer has a knack for taking difficult subject matter and condensing it into easy to consume chapters.

There ! A book review ! LOL

Here's the book description from Amazon:


Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?

From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.

Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.

You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation.
Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

http://www.jonahlehrer.com/ 

Imagine on Amazon