Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Creativity, Two-Volume Set

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

 

 

This is an essential set of books for people who are seriously interested in learning what is known about creativity today. The writers are academics who have spent many years investigating and writing about creativity. They carefully avoid "you can do it" cheerleader type material based on half-baked ideas and unproven notions.

That said, some of the entries could be clearer and better written. Nevertheless, I found many inspirational ideas and resources from both a personal and business perspective.

This two volume set provides a comprehensive overview of creativity. The texts are easy to use, and thus far, have provided me with reliable information on various topics. However, the price is a little high for most students...I was quite fortunate to get a discount when I ordered. Also, an updated or paperback version would be nice--perhaps a one volume text--as one could take it to lecture with ease. In spite of these flaws, which are independent of the texts themselves, the encyclopedias are the best in the field to date.

Wonderful work. Comprehensive and varied. It is "Academic," for the most part, but NOT highly technical. Best of all it has articles by everyone who is anyone in the field. All of the major figures in this field contributed. Not light reading, but if you want to know what the experts say, this is the book.

This is a wonderful collection of creativity topics written by the leading creativity experts in the field. The authors have taken years worth of empirical research and summarized it in a manner that is accessible to the layman. This book is best used as a quick reference to address a variety of subjects and their relationship to creativity and not as pleasure reading (as is traditional of encyclopedias). The critique that is often given to any book dealing with creativity it that it should itself be creative. This is of course absurd. When reading a book on mental disability we would never expect the authors to adopt a disability when conveying their messages. Those that think that creativity books must be creative would be better served by not venturing too far away from the pop-up book collection. Those looking for an encyclopedia that has gathered every imagination topic dealing with creativity that has been empirically tested (not just based on guesswork, hunches, or "feeling") will find this book very useful.

I have been a student of creativity for quite some time, so I ordered these books with very high hopes of it bringing together emerging thought from the enormous variety of work on the subject (admittedly, a very lofty task)...I found, however, that the presentation of the book was very flat, especially considering the nature of this exciting and dynamic field (THIS IS CREATIVITY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, USE IT! ). Articles are presented in traditional academic style, mostly by (and consequently for) academics, with no evident interweaving of common themes or archetypes, betraying the essence of any holistic treatment of the subject... Many, including C.G. Jung, say that creativity develops from the generative interplay between intuition, the senses, feeling and thinking functions. The irony is that the presentation of this book captures one or two of these functions at best.

This is a highly disappointing encyclopedia on creativity. I had looked forward toward receiving it for a long time. In the end, it's nothing but a collection of articles written by academics, most of whom have no credibility or standing in the field. Why the editor did not consult with the leading practioners of creativity and creative thinking is beyond me. Don't waste your money, as I did. Read it in the library.

This is not worth anything close to the price that I, unfortuneately paid for it. Unless, of course, you love reading the kind of thing academics love to write to impress other academics and relatives. I cannot begin to tell you how so far off the mark everything in this book is. Suffice it say, it is not an encyclopedia of creativity. It is a collection of accademic papers which rehash the same old things. One has to wonder if any of the contributors have ever read any of the classic books on creativity that are out there. They, I think, could learn a lot.