This unique anthology brings together material from 38 well-known writers, artists, and scientists who attempt to describe the process by which original ideas come to them. Contributors include Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Amy Lowell, Rudyard Kipling, Max Ernst, Katherine Anne Porter, Henry Miller, Carl Gustav Jung, Mary Wigman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Henri Poincaré and many others.
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From the Inside Flap
"Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living for the ordinary human being."--Carl G. Jung
"I began in absolute chaos and darkness, in a bog or swamp of ideas and emotions and experiences. Even now I do not consider myself a writer, in the ordinary sense of the word. I am a man telling the story of his life, a process which appears more and more inexhaustible as I go on. . . . It is a turning inside out, a voyaging through X dimensions, with the result that somewhere along the way one discovers that what one has to tell is not nearly so important as the telling itself."--Henry Miller
"I began in absolute chaos and darkness, in a bog or swamp of ideas and emotions and experiences. Even now I do not consider myself a writer, in the ordinary sense of the word. I am a man telling the story of his life, a process which appears more and more inexhaustible as I go on. . . . It is a turning inside out, a voyaging through X dimensions, with the result that somewhere along the way one discovers that what one has to tell is not nearly so important as the telling itself."--Henry Miller
From the Back Cover
"Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living for the ordinary human being." (Carl G. Jung)
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I'm very touched to find this book again as i browsed through the net, 25 years after i first bought it in a flee market in New York. The essay by Henry Miller, literally blew my young artist mind back then. It inspired me to follow on his crazy steps. I quit my civil service job(without official leave) and went to Paris ,where I lived for ten years. I read and re-read that essay on creativity and it just kept giving me the courage to step further into the unknown, thus changing my life completely.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Like a previous reviewer, I read this book when it was simply "The Creative Process". I was just a kid and bought the paperback version when they were much less expensive. I still have it and it is falling apart now. It is a book to keep. A previous reviewer mentioned his (her?) favorite parts. I can only add mine to that list: Mozart describing the "completeness" of his musical idea; Thomas Wolfe's "Story of a Novel" in which the writing of a novel is as gripping as the novel itself; R. W. Gerard, whose "Biological Basis of Imagination" breaks down the barriers between Gestalt Psychology, Biology, and esthetics; the concreteness of Stephen Spender's poetry; glimpses into the tactile imagination of Henry Moore; Max Ernst on the art of the collage. Lots of content in a small package.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is a survey of the creative process over artists and scientists across different fields and times, including Mozart, the mathematician and philosopher of science Henri Poincare etc. The book gets to the heart of what life is all about.
This review refers to the first edition of this book: more may have been added in the reissue.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Guidance & illumination from creative masters
Like several other reviewers, I first read this wonderful little book years ago in the Mentor paperback edition ... Read more
Published 3 months ago by William Timothy Lukeman
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Creative Process
I ordered this book hoping that it would help to motivate me and get my creative juices flowing. I haven't been able to read too much of it, as I've been busy with other things. Read more
Published on February 26, 2011 by Michelle L. Spencer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative Processes
Brewster Ghiselin has assembled a wonderful array of descriptions of creative processes, described by creative greats in their fields. Read more
Published on October 21, 2010 by M. Eigen
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but not insightful
A bit of a disappointment. Anecdotal and reflective, but not really informative about how the process of creativity works. A little bit scholarly and pedantic.
Published on February 24, 2006 by Chris Gargan
5.0 out of 5 stars
By an Art Student
I was reffered to this book by my mentor. He is aging but took on the challenge of teaching a young man the art of stone carving. I am not a big reader. Read more
Published on October 14, 2001 by Chris Murphy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent means of decalcification your imagination...
I read this book under an earlier title -- but find it the samebasictext. Then it's title was simply, "The Creative Process" I think it more fitting because it deals... Read more
Published on November 26, 1997 by mtbee@iaxs.net
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