Customer Reviews

Altered States: Creativity Under the Influence

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Altered States: Creativity Under the Influence by James Hughes, is beautifully written and contains a wealth of pictures and illustrations. In this book, Hughes looks at the creative process and its role in society and the creative mind and personality. In addition, he discusses the physical, emotional, and spiritual effects of creativity on the human soul. This book includes informative chapters on creativity and disease, sex and creativity, creativity and chemistry (which looks at the use drugs in the creative process), among other chapters . I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in studying art, artists, and the history/psychology/philosophy of creative behavior. Artists, teachers, students of the arts, as well as, art enthusiasts will enjoy this book.

This book seems to have been marketed towards people interested in 'altered states' which to me indicates chemical/substance use, when in fact only the final chapter is dedicated to substances!

The rest of the book is visually appealing, relevant and informative on the links between consciousness and creativity and would be of interest to anyone interested in spirituality and consciousness with interesting facts and comments on topics as diverse as Transpersonal Psychology, Shamanism, Dreams, Idea incubation, Play and more.

I feel this book has missed it's true target audience through misleading marketing. I found it in a bargain bin here in Australia and am thrilled at the discovery, only sorry to see it has not been appreciated for its true worth.

If you are interested in the subject of creativity, this book is a great overview. Through topics like writing, psychology, neurology, drugs, music, and sex, Hughes clearly illustrates how creative people and their work are an essential and often misunderstood element of the evolutionary process. The topic is fascinating, and the book succeeds in inspiring a deeper understanding of the reader's self, if not an inclination for deeper research on the subject.