Content tagged with “creativity”

There are 17 item(s) tagged with “creativity” on this site.

A Technique for Producing Ideas
Book Review
June 12, 2014
140

“A tiny book – not even sure it was actually a book. An essay? It was written by an advertising executive in the …40s? 50s? It’s a wonderful method for coming up with ideas in five steps. There’s no magic to it, and it’s almost comical in its simplicity, but it vibes with most of the things I’ve…”

Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
Book Review
September 21, 2021
190

“The title is accurate: this is a meditation (an ‘observation’) about making art. It’s not a practical book, it’s just a series of thoughts about the struggle of people who make at to do it in spite of their fears. This is the source of the anecdote about two groups in a pottery class that were…”

Creating Things That Matter: The Art and Science of Innovations That Last
Deane’s Library
Book Review
January 1, 2019
186

“I really wanted to ‘get’ this book…but I didn’t. The text didn’t live up to the title – I came away from it no more prepared to create a ‘thing that matters.’ The author purports to explain ‘aesthetic creation,’ which sounds great, but it never really got explained. A lot of the book was examples…”

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Deane’s Library
Book Review
September 14, 2022
363

“This is the story of Pixar, from one of the founders. It reads like a standard business history until the second part, where he gets into some of the specific things they did at Pixar, especially during and after the acquisition by Disney. But, here’s the thing: how much is your business like…”

Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly
Deane’s Library
Book Review
December 26, 2024
44
Simply Brilliant: Powerful Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity and Spark New Ideas
Deane’s Library
Book Review
May 19, 2019
159

“Mixed bag here. The book is equal parts (1) practical techniques, and (2) motivational speaking. A big part of it is that the author wants you to know that you can be creative. If you already know this, then a lot of the book will be lost on you. It’s better when he talks about some practical…”

Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers
Deane’s Library
Book Review
July 18, 2023
390

“This is a pretty simple book. It tells short, chapter-length biographies of 12 people (plus one bonus person). It tries to get at the source of what made each of them special. Some examples: Shirley Temple had a strong bond with her mother who managed her career. She avoided Hollywood child actor…”

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Deane’s Library
Book Review
October 16, 2021
295

“This is one of those motivational/inspirational type books. It doesn’t really present a lot of new information, and it’s formatted all funky with weird fonts and colors and stuff (a la Tom Peters), and it’s really short – you can read it in 30 minutes. The goal is to impress upon you that it’s okay…”

The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday
Deane’s Library
Book Review
December 10, 2019
107

“An absolutely lovely little book detailing 131 interesting and sometimes absurd ways to notice more things. Exercises like coming up with a script for random video footage you’re watching, interviewing an inanimate object, calculating the exact halfway point between you and a friend and meeting…”

The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI
Deane’s Library
Book Review
December 1, 2023
227

“This book tries to answer the question: will AI ever be able to emulate human creativity? It never really answers the question, but it’s still very, very interesting. Each chapter covers a different type of creativity: writing, music, art, etc. It’s full of examples and anecdotes about the advances…”

The Five-Day Course In Thinking
Deane’s Library
Book Review
October 1, 2022
268

“To be clear, this is a course in thinking. And it’s five days. It should be clear from the title, of course, but I wasn’t quite ready for it. There are actually three five-day courses. This isn’t really mentioned anywhere, but it’s clear in the table of contents. The first one is called ‘Insight…”

The Idea Book
Deane’s Library
Book Review
January 28, 2019
89

“An interesting book – more of a scrapbook or workbook, really. It’s 300 pages…but really like 100. There’s 2-3 blank pages for your own ‘ideas,’ then a page of motivation/inspiration that gives you an exercise for thinking differently. They’re genuinely quite good, and I think this would be a handy…”

The Imagineering Story: The Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering
Deane’s Library
Book Review
July 3, 2024
508

“This is a magisterial history of the Imagineering department at the Walt Disney company. These are the people who create the theme parks – they come up with the ideas, they decorate the themes, they figure out the rides, etc. The book was development along with a six-episode documentary series on…”

The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World
Deane’s Library
Book Review
March 13, 2022
134

“A lovely analysis of why stories matter so much to us. the book dissects the concept of ‘story’ into these areas: Author Audience Journey Character World Detail Voice Platform Immersion The author provides lots of examples of each, from both the creative arts and the business world. I’m having…”

The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle
Deane’s Library
Book Review
February 14, 2019
216

“This is sort of a ‘Devotional’ about the art of creating anything. The chapters are very short (1-2 pages), and they’re written in a lyrical style, center-aligned down the middle of the page. Some of them are almost poem-like. It’s main focus is to try to get you (1) to understand the subconscious…”