Tina Seelig's new book inGenius provides wonderful insight on the creative process. Based on a course she teaches on creativity at Stanford, she gives sneak peeks into group dynamics, environments, and the interesting things you can do to *trick* your brain into being more imaginative. Now I really want to take her class! Maybe I'll have to get a group of friends together to do the virtual crash course.
Jonah Lehrer's new book Imagine: How Creativity Works does just that. There are many ways to create, but perhaps if we understand where our brains and creativity intersect we can become more creative. Lehrer explains how insight and grit both lead to innovation and how we can work alone or together to make more and better things. I wrote a post about his book here, it includes some of my favorite quotes from the book.
He also spoke at the 99% conference:
Jonah Lehrer: The Origins of Creative Insight & Why You Need Grit from 99% on Vimeo.
Though it's not specifically about creating, Simon Sinek presents some wonderful research on the importance of understanding values and beliefs in his TED talk, and also at the 99% Conference:
Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand Business from 99% on Vimeo.
John Cleese on Creativity. This is a recording of a presentation given by actor and writer John Cleese in the 1980s. He focuses on how to get into the "open mode" for creating and tips on staying there, with lightbulb jokes sprinkled throughout.
Artist Mindy Smith's presentation on creativity - This was a live presentation I attended of which there is no recording. I wrote about what I got out of it in a blog post.
One of the sites I follow is called the 99%. It has nothing to do with the political movement, rather it was begun by the makers of Behance, and is a collection of "insights on making ideas happen." I got hooked on this site when I read one of the articles and have kept up with it since then.
Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. I listened to this book on CD and really loved it. It's an easy read on the things he learned as a creative. Things like "don't quit your day job," but also how to recognize that if people don't understand what you're creating it could be a good sign. You can download the earlier version of his book for free and keep up with him on his blog.
In 2009, I came across a fantastic TED talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert where, in 20 minutes, she takes you through the history of understanding our relationship to our creations and how one might overcome the anguish of creating.
The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine. (From her site, you can download the first chapter of this book and related articles.) In this book she talks about being on a scale with Mozart on one end and Ben Franklin on the other. As she put it, renaissance souls like the uphill climb, or as I would say, the act of learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment