The Do It Yourself Lobotomy: Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking (Hardcover)

by Tom Monahan (Author) "Someone had the idea of the wheel..." (more)
Key Phrases: creative thinking coach, dreamer mode, psychic board, Intergalactic Thinking, Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy, Mind Farming (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Praise for the Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy

"Here, at last, is the perfect book for anyone passionate about becoming a better creative thinker. Tom Monahan’s thinking methods make it fun, simple, and easy to discover new and better ways of generating bigger and fresher creative ideas. It’s like running away with the circus."
– Roberto Wilson, Creative Director, Advertising and Graphic Design, Cirque du Soleil

"Tom Monahan’s techniques for creative problem solving are simple and memorable. Whether you’re brainstorming solo or in a group, these exercises will help you move quickly and productively toward innovative solutions."
– Eric Erickson, Director, Creative Services, Target

"You’ve heard the saying: If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got. After a day with Tom Monahan or this book . . . you won’t think like you always thought, and you’ll get something better than you always got!"
– Mike Ricciuto, Director, Global Communications, DuPont Agriculture and Nutrition

"The future of business will be led by people searching for new ideas. This book can help anyone think more creatively."
– Lee Clow, Chairman and Worldwide Creative Director, TBWA \Chiat\Day

"Tom Monahan jiggles your brain loose. He reorganizes the stumbling blocks of creativity into building blocks that equip everybody to be architects of innovation."
– Roy M. Spence, Jr., Founder and President, GSD&M

From the Inside Flap
New ideas drive business. Creative marketing ideas! Breakthrough advertising ideas! Revolutionary customer service ideas! In all corners of industry in today’s blisteringly fast-paced global economy, every dominant company owes its success to ideas generated by nimble minds. Do you and the people you work with generate an abundance of innovative ideas whenever you need them? You will now.

The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy isn’t brain surgery. It’s a surprisingly simple tool kit of easy-to-learn techniques that let you open up your mind, grease the skids of innovation, and mine fresh ideas from the bottomless well of your own imagination.

Creativity coach par excellence Tom Monahan shows you how to tap into your imagination with handy tools like 100 MPH Thinking™, 180° Thinking™, Intergalactic Thinking™, and Ask a Better Question™. He’s used these mental implements to help more than 100,000 people break free from traditional thinking and painlessly produce sparklingly novel ideas.

Already boosting creativity at hundreds of companies, including Virgin Atlantic, Hasbro, Frito-Lay, Dunkin’ Donuts, Capital One, and Benjamin Moore, The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy shows you how to develop your great ideas, recognize and reject bad ideas when you get them (and you will), sell your daring ideas, and get the people around you to start producing ideas of their own.

Let your creativity out of the closet and start generating vibrant new ideas for new products and services, product names, advertising, promotions, business operations–whatever you need. The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy doesn’t hurt a bit, and the success you’ll achieve feels even better.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (March 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471417424
• ISBN-13: 978-0471417422
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,578 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not nearly as impressed w/the author as he is w/himself, August 5, 2003

By	A. Maxham "Just trying to help..." - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Okay- I realize that negative reviews tend to get "No, this review didn't help me" votes, but seriously - if I can stop ONE person from wasting their money & time, I've gotta brave it.

I'm a big fan of the ADWEEK books... but this one...

First- the author spends the first 40+ pages telling you about the "impressive" (his word) list of companies he's worked with and how brilliant and successful he is and the importance of this topic. He even says that the reason his techniques (and they are NOT his alone- but more on that in a second) are so successful is b/c of the names he's given them (he's even got little "TM"s next to some of them)- Anyway- did you get that- it's not the ideas! It's the NAMES! Now that is a creative argument.

He also wastes a PROFOUND amount of time telling you about the domain of creativity. I know that should be an important topic- but how many times and ways do I have to hear that talent (say, ability to draw) is not the same thing as creativity. He even puts in a picture his dad painted and bashes it as talented (accurate rendering) but not creative (painted from another painting). He also spends a frightening amount of time telling you how his ideas will help you. It should have taken maybe 5 pages- he took 69. You spend nearly 70 pages feeling like you are reading an infomercial for his seminars. A personal pet peeve of mine are these little Rolodex-looking cards he has printed throughout that are written by companies talking about how helpful his seminars and ideas were to developing ideas. If they were case studies, this might have been helpful- instead it's more "Gosh- his seminar/technique sure did help us, and we are selling more t-shirts than ever!" Again, I only learned how important and significant this Monahan guy is.

Now- the tools he uses... it's not that his tools are useless- it's that there are so FEW of them and there is not one single thing he discusses in his book that isn't covered in Thinkertoys (and some are even in Hey Whipple Squeeze This). Not only that, but they are covered in more depth in Thinkertoys, with better and more thorough examples, and there are more ideas overall in that book (there are only 7 here-there are TONS in Thinkertoys).

Honestly- I could bash this book all day- let me just PLEASE save you some time and energy- get Thinkertoys (and if you are really specifically interested in the creative process in advertising- Hey Whipple) and SAVE YOUR TIME. You will not miss SQUAT.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me., July 3, 2002

By A Customer

I too found that this book focuses way too much on how great Tom Monahan is, how to read the book and how proud he is of the names for his creativity excersises. It's distracting. He put the mashed potatoes all over the top of the meat.

After reading half of this book, out of order (which he encourages), I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. But then I realized that I am not the target. This book is not for people who are already advertising creatives. This book would be great if you're someone who wants to get into the creative department, or if you are in a non-creative industry and you want to learn how to come up with innovative ideas. But for me, he's just telling me about what I do every day.

I don't know everything. I'm no Tom Monahan. But I was expecting "Hey Whipple" and I got "Hey Arnold" -- Good. Just not geared towards me.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Look How Great I Am Book, May 29, 2002

By A Customer

This book spends too much time telling you how great Tom Monahan is. Too much time telling you how to read the book. Too many tired "catchy" names for his brainstorming processes. And to make matters worse, too many fonts & font sizes to look at. And this from someone who sat through one of his seminars & loved it.

Stick to other books like "How To Get Ideas" or "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This" for real creative inspiration.