The Creative Brain [Paperback]

Ned Herrmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1989

Ned Herrmann s widely acclaimed book traces the scientific and historical basis of his innovative Whole Brain® Thinking approach. Filled with personal anecdotes, data, useful charts and practical, easy-to-apply models, it will inspire and entertain readers while showing them how to enhance creativity at both the individual and organizational levels.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ned Herrmann, founder of Herrmann International and the originator of Whole Brain® Thinking first pioneered the study of the brain in the field of business while working as Manager of General Electric Corporation s Management Education. Herrmann wrote a widely acclaimed book, The Creative Brain, tracing the scientific and historical roots of his innovative Whole Brain® Thinking approach. In 1995, McGraw Hill published Herrmann s next groundbreaker: The Whole Brain Business Book, creating a new benchmark in the hot arena of mind research and its applications to business.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Brain Books; Revised edition (September 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0944850022
• ISBN-13: 978-0944850022
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal journey in discovering brain dominance, March 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Creative Brain (Paperback)

Ned Herrmann is a man with a mission -- to help people understand their own mental makeup and to use it effectively. The Brain Book is a story of a personal journey in self discovery, that is at the same time, both scientific and creative. Herrmann had a 20 year business career at General Electric as director of Management Education. He also enjoyed an active career as an artist -- first as a singer and later as a painter. An illness forced him to abandon singing and take up painting and his dual success as business leader and creative type led him to a study of the brain itself.Moving from a physiological model, he has devised a four quadrant metaphorical model to define thinking styles which are measurable through a simple test -- the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. The book has enormous benefits for self understanding but goes beyond that to provide a means of dealing with others in the world of work and life. It also provides a schema for the enhancement of personal and organizational creativity. The book practises what Ned Herrmann preaches. It is filled with solid data, charts and validation. It is well organized and moves sequentially through an understanding of his findings. It is filled with personal anecdotes, entertaining cartoons and drawings which reveal the author's considerable talent and it presents a vision of a world that uses all human thinking modes effectively. His four quadrants are aptly illustrated and represented to educate and inspire the reader. It is a particularly useful book for those charged fostering creativity in the business community and provides solid directives that are at the same time sensible and visionary.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - a breakthrough in brain dominance thinking, June 3, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Creative Brain (Paperback)

Ned Herrmann, while working at GE, conducted studies on the preferred thinking modes of various groups of people with different areas of brain dominance. As a result of these studies he arrived at a circular model of the brain divided into four quadrants (instead of the two halves formerly associated with "right brain-left brain" thinking) Each of the four quadrants represents a thinking mode such as "analyze","Organize","personalize" and "strategize". This represents a breakthrough, of international importance, in our understanding of brain dominance and the thinking brain. Submitted by Robert H. Herrmann.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spurred my burning interest in understanding the world's most powerful portable thinking machine located between my two ears!, October 7, 2006

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Creative Brain (Paperback)

This wonderful book was my first brain book that helped me to understand my learning, thinking & decision making preferences - my brain dominance, to be precise. It came with a valuable assessment tool, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. I felt very good after learning about my scored results (from the author's outfit in the United States) with the tool, which eventually allowed me to exploit my capabilities - & to overcome my limitations - in both professsional & personal terms.

The book also had an interesting story about the author, Ned Herrmann, & his amazing journey of personal self-discovery. He was trained as a physicist & worked at General Electric in a management function. Yet, he also enjoyed an active career as a performing artist - first as a singer & later as a painter/sculptor.

It was rather a thick book, printed in large format, with 400 odd pages, but it was filled with personal anecdotes, solid data, & useful charts.

I had enjoyed reading - & reflecting upon - the book very much at the time I had bought it in the late 80's. I was then working as a General Manager of a high- technology laboratory (Real Time Graphics) from Sweden, with a research focus in developing value-added applications with their proprietary real-time man-machine communication software, designated as 'EyesScream'. In reality, Ned Herrmann's book game me a lot of valuable application insights, particularly from the standpoint of cognitive ergonomics. The experiences allowed me to work efficiently & effectively with many customers.

Subsequently, I went on to acquire the author's second book, The Whole Brain Business Book, in the mid-90s. WOW, another wonderful book from Ned Herrmann! In it, the author expanded my understanding of the metaphorical four-quadrant model of the brain & its corresponding learning, thinking & decision making styles: logician, organizer, communicator, & visionary. I also enjoyed reading the book very much as I felt really inspired & empowered after learning how to harness the power of the whole brain.

In some way, the two books spurred my burning interests on a continuing quest for better understanding of the world's most powerful portable thinking machine, located between my two ears!