Designers will find a range of information and inspiration on the one topic they always want more of: creativity.
Unlike some reviewers, I felt that the authors did provide a solid theoretical or conceptual framework, and not merely a laundry list of examples. Indeed, I was particularly impressed by their identification and explanation of the reasons behind the deep linkages between artistic and scientific endeavors, and by the interesting explorations of the interplay of artistic and scientific discovery in many noted thinkers. Science education in general would be much more interesting to the average student if standard textbooks fleshed out the often artistic interests of the great scientists as well as the Root-Bernsteins.
I would take the Root-Bernsteins to task however, for the rather prosaic presentation of their material. In particular, its a shame for them to so heavily emaphasize visualization and multimodal representation, and to cite the work of Edward Tufte, and then present such a conventionally design book of text and relatively limited and often poorly placed figures, oddly located "appendices" etc. The illustrations, layouot, typesetting, and overall design should have itself been reflective of their subject matter. Perhaps a second edition would rectify this oversight.
Finally, I note that they could have better "rationalized" or categorized the various "tools" they identify, and thereby perhaps shortened the book. For example, Body Thinking is really just another type of Imagining, that is imaging with the body. These captures could have been combined.
Overall, an excellent, enjoyable read. Most non-fiction works like this take me weeks to read. This one I literally could not put down. Recommended.
Besides, 'genius' only means 'spirit'. The geniuses of the world are spirited people. Look inside to find that, not in the pages of this book.
US: Available in April 2007
Japan has a long history of combining the newest technology with clever, striking and intricate design aspects, the result of the traditional aesthetic of monozukuri, or "the art of making things."
For this book, Shu Hagiwara, author and design director, has selected Japanese-designed products that had a great impact over the post-World War II period. His curiosity led him on a search for these products' beginnings. What were the engineers thinking of when they designed the Honda Super Cub—what many consider to be the best motorcycle of all time? What flight of imagination led to Sori Yanagi's spectacular Butterfly Stool—which now is part of the MOMA collection? What traditional craft was the inspiration of Isamu Noguchi's lantern Akari? From Hagiwara's text, we learn much about these elegant, witty and beautiful designs and the process from concept to finished product. We also see their origins expressed in stunning photography by the celebrated photographer Masashi Kuma.
Forty products—some familiar, some not. Forty ideas—some contemporary, some traditional, some a little of both. Forty designs—all intriguing, all inspirational, all a fascinating part of life in Japan.
Average customer rating:
- McPhail is magical once again
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In Flight with David McPhail: A Creative Autobiography (Creative Sparks)
David McPhail
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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McPhail, David
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ASIN: 0435081322 |
Book Description
Soar In Flight with David McPhail through childhood memories, meetings with his publisher,and the many stages that one drawing can go through. Learn the reason he draws pigs alot. And findout among other things, how one of children's favorite author/illustrators knows he has drawn good rain.
Customer Reviews:
McPhail is magical once again.......1999-12-02
David McPhail is one of my son's favorite authors. We never tire of his simple but evocative drawings and prose. This mini-autobiography is equally exquisite not only in its description of the writing/illustrating process, but also its insight. My son especially enjoyed learning about how an inspiration becomes a book in your hands - a more complicated process than many of us realize. McPhail's description of the process not only makes it feel do-able for a child, but beautifully depicts the teamwork aspects, ending up with a lovely sense of the magic of the writing experience. Another author whose autobiography is equally wonderul, but for slightly older children, is Cynthia Rylant's book entitled But I'll Be Back Again. If you love David McPhail's books, don't miss our favorites: The Fix-It Man; The Bear's Toothache. And, if you are curious about Cynthia Rylant's writing, be sure to read her book for young adults Missing May in addition to the fabulous Henry and Mudge series for little kids of all ages!
Amazon.com
Want to fire up creativity in your company? When Sparks Fly just might be the fuel you're looking for. Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap describe a method that can help people become more innovative and better at teamwork. "Whether you lead a group of three in a nonprofit foundation or 300,000 in a Fortune 500 business, the basic process of creativity is the same," write Leonard, a Harvard Business School professor, and Swap, a Tufts University dean. The process involves five steps: selecting the right mix of people to spark creativity; identifying the problem needing novel ideas; developing alternatives; taking time to consider choices; and selecting one option.
Leonard and Swap bolster their ideas with real-life examples of corporate creativity and analysis of dozens of psychological studies about human innovation. The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), for instance, generates breakthrough ideas by teaming up such diverse people as artists, anthropologists, and computer scientists. And to support diversity's role in creativity, they cite a 1992 study of 199 bank CEOs. The research found that top management teams are more innovative if they include people with varying expertise. Each of the book's chapters begins with a fictional management scenario and concludes with a summary of key points. It also includes chapters on designing the best physical and psychological environments for igniting new ideas. When Sparks Fly is a good tool for managers and others interested in fanning the flames of creativity. --Dan Ring
Book Description
How does a leader manage for creativity?
Many managers fall into the trap of assuming that only gifted individuals--readily identifiable "creative types"--can produce breakthrough thinking, and if you don't have an eccentric genius on your team, your efforts are doomed to mediocrity. Some even argue that creativity is an art that can't possibly be planned or managed without extinguishing the vital creative spark. Yet, say Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, today's most innovative, complex services, products and processes spring from well-led, well-managed group interactions.
Blending their backgrounds in business and psychology into a fresh perspective, Leonard and Swap sweep aside conventional thinking about creativity to show how managers can actively shape group processes to enhance creative output. They offer proven strategies based on a deep understanding of human behavior for stimulating and directing the group dynamics that lie at the heart of innovative thinking. The book clearly outlines and analyzes each step in the creative process and gives practical suggestions for managing creative teams, including specific techniques for composing groups to maximize creative abrasion, re-channeling the tensions of conflicting points of view into new ideas and alternative options, and failing forward to success.
Leonard and Swap explore how all aspects of the work environment, from leadership style to the promotion of passion to the use of space to maximize serendipity, can enhance innovation. Drawing on examples in companies that range from small startups to Fisher-Price, Intel and Hewlett-Packard,
When Sparks Fly shows how sophisticated managers can galvanize groups to maximize their creative potential.
Customer Reviews:
The Creative Mindset.......2003-12-05
In Leonard and Swap's book, "When Sparks Fly: Igniting creativity in groups," the authors acknowledge that with the right physical and psychological group environment, creativity can easily emerge from all members of a group. This creativity can be brought forth in groups ranging from five to five-thousand. The authors present their views and information in a congenial way, which gives the book a lighter sense. Their overall intention was not to create a guide which would be viewed as mentally cumbersome to absorb, but rather to write a book which bestows fresh ideas upon the reader in a non-technical way.
The book begins by challenging the typical myths associated with creativity, and subsequently proving them to be incorrect. The authors assert that by using certain motivational and managerial techniques, greater overall creativity can be achieved, even by those who would not typically be referred to as the "creative" type.
The chapters cover all of the basics of group formation and management, beginning with basic creative group problems, addressing techniques with which to harness creativity and keep it focused in the right direction, and leaving the reader with the knowledge and motivation to foster the proper environment for the foundation and formation of a creative group. This is achieved through a five-step process defined by the authors as: 1) preparation, 2) innovation opportunity, 3) generation of options, 4) incubation, 5) the convergence on one option. These steps are intuitively arranged and thoroughly explained throughout the course of the book.
Overall, this book seeks to leave you with the idea that creativity, while an inherit ability to some, can also be thought of as a process. Once creativity is learned to be viewed as a process, many new avenues with which to inspire creativity can be realized and achieved through careful manipulation of the work environment. These authors truly provide a great prospective on a somewhat perplexing topic to most managers.
True organizational crativity.......2001-12-01
THis book shows how the true creativity (the one for everyday work) arises and how managers should do in their corps to leverage this invaluable asset.
An Essential Tool for the Internet Age.......2000-06-08
Innovation in the workplace is difficult to achieve for all organizations. Most businesses do not have a resident genius, but rely on the creativity of many people over multiple disciplines. Managing these different perspectives and expectations can be a nightmare. Risks of alienation, creating winners and losers and outright failure inhibit even the most self-assured manager. Within the first 15 pages of the book the authors, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, introduce Ken Iverson, the chairman of Nucor Steel who reported that, "when his company took on a new, extremely high-risk creative project, he slept like a baby -- he woke up every two hours crying!"
According to the authors, group creativity requires thoughtful preparation, cultivation of different options, time to reflect and careful culling of the "right" ideas. Each step in the process will either energize the team to work harder or become part of a demoralizing and fractious process. As Leonard and Swap write, "Two (or more) heads are better than one, however, only if (1) there is useful knowledge inside the heads; (2) all that useful knowledge can be accessed; and (3) all that accesssed, useful knowledge can be shared, processed, and synthesized by the group."
While reading the first section, I "borrowed" a legal pad from my spouse to pilfer the numerous creative ideas suggested. By the time I was done, I had filled the entire pad and was writing on the cardboard back, with designs for programs to reward creativity and groundrules for initiating appropriate creative sessions. Just about everything is covered -- from why preppy Tommy Hilfiger can design for urban youth to how Weyerhaeuser created new, cost effective particleboard. While the reader may not want to use every single idea, there are many new ideas to choose from, representing the best-of-breed these authors have found from around the world's corporations in their considerable body of research.
When Sparks Fly: Igniting Creativity in Groups marks the publishing debut for a team of seasoned professors: Dorothy Leonard, of Harvard Business School, and Walter Swap, dean of the colleges at Tufts University. It is a rare business book: accessible, fresh and realistic. Perhaps it is no accident that the book was written shortly after the marriage of these two well-respected academics. Sparks do fly.
Creativity is an attitude and a learnable process.......2000-06-08
This is a successor to Dorothy Leonard(-Barton)'s excellent Wellsprings of Knowledge, and expands the treatment of knowledge generation or creativity that forms one of the important chapters of that book.
The central message is that group creativity is a social process and that the process needs a sympathetic climate in terms of norms, beliefs, attitudes and physical environment and needs to be managed through a series of stages. Neglect of any stage seriously inhibits the process. The authors do not deny individual creativity but insist that all of us can contribute to group creativity if the conditions are right - and that individual creativity can be destroyed or at least suppressed if the conditions are wrong.
These are very similar to the conditions required for organisational learning (see Nancy Dixon: The Organizational Learning Cycle), which is not surprising as knowledge generation and learning are different perspectives on essentially the same phenomenon. The two books in fact make good companions to each other.
Chapter 1 draws out some principles, defines creativity and innovation for the purpose of the book and outlines the creative process.
While saying that creativity is resistant to linear progress, the authors identify five steps as capturing the essential features of the creative process. They are: preparation, innovation opportunity, divergence (generating options), incubation, convergence (selecting options).
The steps of divergence, incubation and convergence are the central (usually iterative) engine of creativity. Effective management of these steps is vital, and it is the balance or rhythm of the steps that has to be got right.
The rest of the book is basically about the conditions necessary to ensure that each of these steps and their combination are fully productive. How should the group be structured? What norms, beliefs and behaviours are necessary for them to interact creatively? What leadership behaviours are needed? How should the process be managed and when, if at all, should there be external facilitation? What psychological and physical conditions are conducive to creative success?
The authors conclude: "Creativity, like learning, is not only a process but also an attitude. Managing creativity is all about the values we enact."
Activating the Maverick Synapses.......2000-05-10
There are many books now available on the general subject of "creativity" but relatively few on the subject of "group creativity." Leonard and Swap have selected an appropriate title for theirs. As they explain, if you create the appropriate physical and psychological environments for a group, creative "sparks" can "fly"...perhaps igniting a department, a division or even an entire organization. For whatever reasons, others do not share my high regard for this book. So be it. What I expected -- and what it delivers -- is a solid conceptual framework within which to generate and then sustain collegial creativity. If you've read Robert Fritz's The Path of Least Resistance for Managers, you are already aware of his assertion that an organizational structure can be designed for success. Leonard and Swap agree with Fritz, not only that such a design is possible but also that it is imperative. Their book consists of six chapters:
What Is Group Creativity?
Creative Abrasion
Generating Creative Options
Converging on the Best Options
Designing the Physical Environment
Designing the Psychological Environment
These chapters are followed by several pages of Notes and a superb Bibliography. Their concluding thoughts reiterate that "creativity is a process -- and can be encouraged and influenced....Thinking of creativity as a process removes, we hope, some of the mystery -- and the temptation to step back from the challenge....Creativity, like learning, is not only a process but an attitude. An attitude that promotes creativity is a kind of alertness to innovation opportunities -- a constant mental challenge to routine and openness to change.... Some individuals thrive on the challenge of constant change and improvement; others recoil from the implicit chaos....But it takes only a small spark to ignite a large fire. Let the sparks!"
I provide this brief excerpt for two reasons. First, it gives you at least some idea of how the authors think. Also and more importantly, their remarks imply some of the barriers to "group creativity" which must be overcome, if not eliminated: fears of being "wrong", of embarrassment, of rejection, of seeming "dumb", etc. As Leonard and Swap correctly suggest, it is as important to be alert to human sensitivities and vulnerabilities it is to "innovation opportunities." Without mutual respect, there can be no mutual trust. Without mutual trust, there can be no creative collaboration.
If you share my high regard for this book, you may wish to check out the works of other authors such as Guy Claxton, Edward de Bono, Doug Hall, Michael Michalko, Joey Reiman, and Roger von Oech.
Average customer rating:
- Review of On The Bus With Joanna Cole
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On the Bus with Joanna Cole: A Creative Autobiography (Creative Sparks)
Joanna Cole , and
Wendy Saul
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Voices in the Park
ASIN: 0435081314 |
Book Description
The millions of children who follow he Magic School Bus adventures, and the parents and teachers who read along with them will find inspiration and delight in Joanna's story.
Customer Reviews:
Review of On The Bus With Joanna Cole.......2002-03-03
Joanna Cole did an excellent job of writing her autobiography. I liked how she started with her relationship with her father, who is dyslexic, and how he made her appreciate the joy of reading. She also explains how her love and interest in science is her inspiration for her books. She didn't grow up thinking she would become a writer but because of her hard working attitude, which she got from her father, and passion for science she now has written many stories. The works I am most familiar with are the Magic School Bus stories but she has also written many others, all having to do with science. It is her passion of science that makes her books so interesting. This book gives you a great deal of information about Cole's life the experiences that have lead her to where she is now.
Book Description
With a lively, upbeat, and forward-looking approach, this innovative reader is geared toward today's technology-savvy and media-saturated individual. Intended to spark readers' interest, challenge their assumptions, and incite their passions, essays are drawn from diverse and varied sources, on topics ranging from music and film to hunting and automobiles, hummingbirds and snakes, to war and technology. In addition to essays, Sparks includes Web links, online research, photographs for writing prompts, cartoons for analysis, and film connections - all to create a unique and complete 21st century reader. For those seeking a forward-looking reader to help develop their writing skills.
Customer Reviews:
Trash.......2007-08-26
This book is beyond worthless. Some of the selected readings are good, but the book itself is riddled with typos and misspellings. Further, whoever wrote the questions, comments and definitions in this book simply didn't take their job seriously. For example, in one of the essays ("Extremely Cool" by A.J. Jacobs [not a good essay]), the author refers to "street lugers". The editor felt that the word "luger" needed to be defined for students, so if you follow up on it, you'll find a definition that reads: "Luger: a semi-automatic German pistol." Honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg. It should be considered a crime to force students to pay money for this worthless piece of trash. If you want to use a reading from this book, I suggest going to the source and photocopying; don't encourage the people who concocted this monstrosity by handing them more money.
Books:
- Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap
- Collective Intelligence in Design (Architectural Design)
- Color Atlas of Genetics (FLEXIBOOK)
- Como Dibujar Anime Vol. 1: El Diseno de Personajes / How to Draw Anime and Game Characters Vol. 1: Basics for Beginners and Beyond/ Spanish Edition
- Complete Metalsmith, Professional Edition
- Contemporary Color: Theory & Use
- Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
- Designing Brand Identity: A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brands
- Different Brains, Different Learners: How to Reach the Hard to Reach
- Drawing from the Modern (3 Volumes)
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Good enough.......2006-11-05
