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The Act of Creation (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The three panels of the rounded triptych shown on the frontispiece indicate three domains of creativity which shade into each other without sharp boundaries: Humour,..." (more)
Key Phrases: bisociative act, participatory emotions, abstractive hierarchies, Book One, Book Two, Holy Ghost (more...)

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Hardcover Available from these sellers. Published December 31, 1968	Hardcover, December 31, 1968	--	--	$57.41
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Paperback Available from these sellers. Published May 23, 1975	Paperback, May 23, 1975	--	--	$48.37
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Unknown Binding Available from these sellers.	Unknown Binding	--	--	$555.00

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

Paperback: 491 pages
Publisher: Macmillan (May 23, 1975)
ISBN-10: 0330244477
ISBN-13: 978-0330244473

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,582,296 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
The three panels of the rounded triptych shown on the frontispiece indicate three domains of creativity which shade into each other without sharp boundaries: Humour, Discovery, and Art. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bisociative act, participatory emotions, abstractive hierarchies, participatory tendencies, incompatible matrices, faulty integration, underground games, trivial plane, unconscious guidance, exploratory drive, automatized skills, native equipment, visual constancies, emotive potential, traumatic challenges, mechanical encrusted, instinct behaviour, blocked matrix, letter habit, associative contexts, invariant code, creative stress, hidden analogies, creative anarchy, organic hierarchy

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Book One, Book Two, Holy Ghost, William James, Tragic Plane, Bertrand Russell, Don Quixote, Herr Malskat, Hixon Symposium, Benevolent Magician, Coronation Street, Eric Newton, Kubla Khan, Lloyd Morgan, Middle Ages, Otto Koehler, The Mentality of Apes, Van Gogh, Aldous Huxley, French Academy of Sciences, Helen Keller, Jacques Hadamard, New Yorker, Royal Society, Tycho de Brahe

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin on 4 pages
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin on 4 pages
On the Origin of Species (Penguin Classics) by Charles Darwin on 4 pages
The Unconscious Before Freud by Lancelot Law Whyte on page 126, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
On the Revolutions: Nicholas Copernicus Complete Works (Foundations of Natural History) by Nicholas Copernicus on page 103, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

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100 books cite this book:

Dimensions of Creativity (Bradford Books) by Margaret A. Boden on 4 pages
Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty by James H. Austin on 4 pages
Postmodernism in History: Fear or Freedom? by Bever Southgate in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Wittgenstein and the Turning Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics: Routledge Library Editions Wittgenstein by S.G. Shanker on page 112, page 119, and Back Matter
The Language of Change: Elements of Therapeutic Communication by Paul Watzlawick on page 18, page 55, and Back Matter

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	79% buy the item featured on this page: The Act of Creation 4.8 out of 5 stars (6)
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	6% buy Darkness at Noon: A Novel 4.8 out of 5 stars (27) $10.20
	3% buy Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention 4.3 out of 5 stars (24) $11.51

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Customer Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The intersection of lines of thought, August 5, 2002

By	Rafe Champion (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Act of Creation (Arkana) (Paperback)

This is the first of Koestler's big three serious science books. The second is "The Sleepwalkes", on the contribution of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. The third is "The Ghost in the Machine", which contains a critique of behaviorist psychology and Koestler's theory to account for the apparent self-destructiveness of human nature.

"The Act of Creation" offers a theory to account for the "Ah Ha" reaction of scientific discovery, the "Ha Ha" reaction to jokes and the "Ah" reaction of mystical or religious insight. In each case the result is produced by a "bisociation of matrices" or the intersection of lines of thought which brings together hitherto unconnected ideas and fuses them into a creative synthesis. When the lines of thought are scientic the result is a scientific discovery, when they are concerned with devotional matters the result is mystical insight and when they are on a more homely plane the result can be a joke.

The model is fleshed out with a great deal of information ranging from the religions of the world to a theory about the nervous system to account for the build-up of tension and its discharge at the puchline of a joke. Peter Medawar's review was scathing in his comments on Koestler's science, which is a shame because the book can have the desirable effect of encouraging young scientists to read far beyond the usual range of their literature.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, sadly forgotten, worth reviving, April 29, 2006

By	Umesh Vyas (New Delhi, India) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Act of Creation (Arkana) (Paperback)

Recently, I have read a lot of books on Creativity and Innovation. My big surprise is that virtually none of them mention Koestler's The Act of Creation. This is unfortunate because this book is probably the most authoritative examination of creativity. Attention to this classic is worth reviving.

Koestler examines three types of creativity - Humor, Science, and Poetry. Humor, according to him, is cruel (a valuable insight). Poetry, and other forms of art, integrate oneself with the World. Science occupies the neutral middle. It is amazing how Koestler manages to link all three kinds of creativity with a common framework.

My two biggest take-aways from this book are regarding the process of creation and its form.

As Koestler describes beautifully - "..uncovers, selects, re-shuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties, skills. The more familiar the parts, the more striking the new whole." This is corroborated by all geniuses who have stood `on the shoulder of giants'. Even inventors like Edison fit this framework. This is close to saying that instead of thinking `outside the box', link several boxes to each other.

The other great insight is that the final breakthrough is rarely verbal, but in images. So people see new insights in a dream-like trance, rather than expressing it in language. Language, probably, impedes creativity.

There are several more delightful and relevant insights on creativity in this masterpiece. Nearly a bible on creativity.

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38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The roots of human creativity and its relation to nature., March 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Act of Creation (Arkana) (Paperback)

THE ACT OF CREATION has attracted a cult following since its original 1964 publication. It set the stage for much of the "New Age" literature of the following decades. Koestler draws analogies between human creativity and evolution in nature, seeing them as two different aspects of a single process. Koestler's writing is eminently readable and still highly topical three decades later.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible
This is a remarkable book. Some years ago, I used it as the basis of a course I wrote on Thinking & Creativity. Read more

Published on January 7, 2007 by John Newton

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare masterpiece connecting the dots of insightful thought
A fascinating read for the person who steps back and wonders - it gives glimpses and answers through an integrated body of research and a graceful and insightful fireside chat... Read more

Published on June 24, 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars The most authoratative text on creative processes I know.
The book looks at creativity from a broader perspective than what is generally portrayed in society. Read more

Published on June 18, 1998

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