Customer Reviews

Creativity: Beyond the Myth of Genius

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recipe for genius:
1) One part: intellect, i.e., high IQ.
2) One part: motivation/determination, i.e., staying focused
3) One part: immersion in field, i.e., being very well-read on the topic and working in it for at least a decade.

Are geniuses smart? Yes, but, as outlined above, that's only one part of being a genius. Without the other two, one isn't going to have a chance at achieving this level of achievement.

The above is the contention of the author and he makes a very compelling case for it. There are a lot of myths and folklore about what a genius is and he expertly tears down them one after another. There are also a lot of mislabeling of who qualifies as a genius. Being intellectually or artistically gifted doesn't necessarily mean one is a genius ... no matter how gifted a person might be.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone that is a scientist, artist, has a high IQ score, or is a teacher, parent or spouse of any of those three.

Looking at titles that cover 'how to' be creative this book stands out as a sane title amongst the glib 'problem solver' titles that are based on the most 'creative geniuses' of all time. The myth of genius, within this publication, tends to be dispelled.
Genius - that value of creative thought - tends to be more mundane than we expect and perhaps hoped for. Giving up cigarettes isn't easy and there's little reasono that I can see why generating ideas that are creative should be any easier.

This book moves beyond the 'einstein' thinking to show how solid understanding formed the basis of ideas. How a random word (potatoe) didn't lead to the formulation of the theory of relativity.
A book that anyone who wants to consider the importance of balanced thinking (research, review, etc) has in the place of great ideas.

I would wholeheartedly give this book 5 stars for the fact that it contains something I haven't seen in other books on creativity -- a way of understanding creativity as something we All have in our capabilities and creative works as coming about through an evolution of thought. The evolutionary concept is a Very Valuable one to have -- even Mozart didn't have completed music bestowed upon him by God. Mozart's pieces evolved (maybe more inside his head than on paper compared to many others) and so the myth of magical bestowal of creative genius is slain. The thing is despite the fact that ideas need to evolve in the thoughts of their thinker before they become novels, poems, songs, scientific theories, paintings, sculptures -- and are not given in a lightning bolt from God -- doesn't detract from the fact that there is still something mystical in the practice of creating -- and the poets, writers, artists, and scientists who have found this are the ones who become great, because they can't let go of the process...maybe it could be said are even addicted (at any rate obsessed) Ultimately this book is valuable to understanding the evolutionary process of creative work...but it deflates the power of creative thought into something mundane -- and NEW ideas, new combinations, and creative thought itself is not mundane. Yes, there are years of work -- but the payoff is so attracting and powerful that most writers and artists feel it to be mystical-- and perhaps that is how the myth of the lightning bolt of inspiration has taken hold. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Creativity is still a gift. But it also needs tending. The tone of this book is a too deflating for my taste -- although it gave me good stuff to chew on and another way of looking at creative work.

This book expertly and methodically shows that the creative thought process is not distinct from ordinary thinking.