In the tradition of The Creative Process, here is an absorbing look at creativity sure to be a perennial seller. Everyone from the budding entrepreneur to the weekend writer is looking for a great idea. But where do they come from? Denise Shekerjian interviewed 40 winners of the coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowships--the "genius awards"--to uncover how they work and how they sneak up on great ideas. And Denise demonstrates how individuals can harness the creative spark in their own lives.
At the age of 38, John D. MacArthur, a destitute high-school dropout, borrowed $2,500 to buy the Bankers Life & Casualty Company of Chicago; eight years later he'd made a million dollars. At the time of his death in 1978 he was the second-richest man in America and "notoriously tightfisted." But he left most of his two-and-a-half-billion-dollar estate in the form of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with only these instructions to his board of trustees: "I figured out how to make the money, you boys figure out how to spend it." Thus the MacArthur Prize, also known as the "genius grant," was born. The award cannot be applied for, and it is not limited to any particular field of interest. Its purpose "is to promote those leaps of creative thinking that may occur when gifted people are left to their own devices." For Uncommon Genius, Shekerjian interviewed forty MacArthur Prize winners--John Sayles, Peter Sellars, Ellen Stewart, and Derek Walcott among them--in an attempt to discover "how great ideas are born." While much of what she learns about the creative impulse is not exactly groundbreaking--it involves risk-taking, openness, concentration, resiliency, and a great love of the work--spending time with the creators she has chosen to include is fascinating. They bring these broad concepts to life by inviting us into their studios, offices, labs, even dorm rooms (the youngest interviewee, Mayan epigraphist David Stuart, was a Princeton student at the time) and discussing their own creative processes. There is much to be gleaned here, not only about how creativity applies itself to various fields (community action, political science, writing, art history, woodworking, and even being a clown), but about how to nurture your own "creative genius." --Jane Steinberg
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
HERD MENTALITY.:
Wonderful book, but let me highlight a few of its political lessons that are glossed over in reviews. If you invent a better mouse-trap the establishment will likely slap you silly and ruin you if it can. Read Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED to learn how they do it. Most people havent had a creative thought since they figured life out at 13. (Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll is the correct answer). So society views innovators and creators as thieves, lucky, or twisted-freaks. Your friends and family would be... more info
A happy find:
I found this book via a "happy coincidence" (luck??). Long story- I was in China in a shop having a long conversation with the shop-keepers son. He had an interesting looking book so I asked what it was. It was a book on "mind-mapping" which looked like it might be useful in my work, and for a book that I am currently writing (on Lean Manufacturing). It was in Chinese so I couldn't understand it but it raised my curiosity. When I got back to the States I looked up Tony Buzan at the library and as I often do... more info
The best book I've found on creativity - an easy, useful, insightful read:
This is my favorite book on creativity. It does an excellent job diving into the subject and coming up with realistic and practical answers about the creative process. It sends a good message that there isn't magic in the creative process - that creativity comes most from hard work and dedication - something that anyone is capable of. Its also an easy quick read which increases its attractivness and usefullness by ehnancing the underlying message that creativity isn't complicated and available to anyone to... more info
Very worthwhile! Relevant to artists, scholars, scientists:
Shekerjian tackles a tough topic and succeeds in bringing it down to earth. "Geniuses," or MacArthur Fellows, at any rate, are humanized here. They aren't struck by lightning, or born with great discoveries. They are hard workers and they have personality traits well-suited to creative endeavors. For a creative spirit such as myself, I was very intersted to glean insights from Shekerjian and from the MacArthur Fellows she spoke with. By normalizing these people, Shekerjian shows (among other things)... more info
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