If there is a book about creativity, brainstorming, or creative problem solving... Idea Sandbox has probably read it. It's not often that a book comes along that stands out among the rest.

"Creativity Today" is that sort of book. It is one of - if not the - best books written on how to be creative. Idea Sandbox highly recommends it.

Overview

"Creativity Today" is a great first book on 'creativity and problem solving' because the authors address the key challenges facing someone who feels they aren't "creative enough" and offer simple steps to draw out personal creativity. They debunk the misconception that people are born creative (or not)... and then outline and describe the basic creative process. The book doesn't talk down to the reader or dumb down the subject. After reading this book, you will have more confidence in your creative skills and will be armed with the tools needed to practice creativity.

Easy to Read and Use

The book breaks up and reinforces key points with case studies, relevant graphics, and exercises. They combine insights with training activities that reinforce what you just read.(But not in a dry textbook style).

Content Overview

1. Understanding Creativity - addresses common misconceptions about creativity
2. A Creative Mind - discusses how are minds work
3. The Creative Process - introduction to the three key stages of the Creativity Today process
4. The Starting Phase - getting started, problem identification stage
5. The Diverging Phase - the idea generation stage - offers both logical and imaginative techniques.
6. The Converging Phase - making choices and narrowing to the best solution.
7. Creation Today - The closing section of the book offers case studies featuring real-world, actual examples of the creative process (outlined in the book) put to use.

Where to Buy It

This book is currently only available in North America through 1800CEORead. In Europe and the UK visit Amazon UK.

Details

"Creativity Today"

• By: Ramon Vullings, Godelieve Spaas, Igor Byttebier of New Shoes Today
• Book Site: Creativity Today
• Genres: Brainstorming, Creativity, Decision Making, Problem Identification Problem Solving, and Decision Making
• Paperback book of 238 pages
• Published on January 2007 by Bis Publishers (NL)

Idea Sandbox Rating

Dog Ear Score: n/a
(this is one of those books where nearly every page would be dog-eared.)
Usability (5/5)
Coverage of Subject (5/5)
Contribution to Topic (4/5)*
Ease of Read (5/5)
Visually Pleasing (5/5)

*NOTES: Creativity Today doesn't introduce a load of concepts new to the topic of creativity and problem solving... but that's not a bad thing. (Some books re-brand traditional methods as their own new fangled method - that's bad.)

added 9:23 AM | Permalink | reactions (2) | post to del.icio.us | TrackBacks (0)
categorized as CREATIVITY , FIGURE IT OUT > brainstorming , FIGURE IT OUT > decision making , must reads , FIGURE IT OUT > problem identification , FIGURE IT OUT > problem solving

Michael Michalko (author of "Thinkertoys" and "Cracking Creativity") was interviewed recently by Dan Keldsen BizTechTalk. They discussed Michael's perspective on various techniques for creative thinking.

During the discussion Michael mentions a technique Walt Disney would use for drumming up ideas...

Dreamer, Realist, Critic

Walt would approach ideas in three phases...

Dreamer
Day one, he would spend all day fantasizing, coming up with the most fantastic, absurd ideas he could.

Realist
The next day, he would play the realist and try to imagineer these ideas back to earth.

Critic
The third day he would become the critic, and try to punch holes in all the ideas he had come up with.

The ideas that survived this process were the ones Walt would work on.

Click to listen to Michael's interview

added 9:51 AM | Permalink | reactions (0) | post to del.icio.us | TrackBacks (0)
categorized as FIGURE IT OUT > brainstorming

Are you still looking for easy-to-approach process for coming up with ideas and problem solving? Do you still not feel you are "good" at being creative?

Sam Harrison's book "Zing!: Five Steps and 101 Tips for Creativity on Command" offers simple, but effective tools as well as solid and doable tips to be creative. His process takes creativity from "zero to zing" in five steps.

The book is thin (in a good way). He breaks the process down into easy to digest chunks and the book can easily be read in one or two sittings.

Here is how Harrison describes his book's approach...

Some books zigzag. This book zings.

Many books on creativity hide their nuggets of wisdom in hundreds of fluff-filed pages. Zing! gets right to the point. Powerful, single-page messages offer:

• five action steps for creating with zing
  
• fast examples of creative triumphs
  
• rejuvenating quotes from creative gurus
  
• real-life tips and hands-on tools

I have run several challenges through the Zing! process and have been pleased with the results.

Here's a summary of the Zing! steps...

1. Explore: Observe & Research - Gather all the information possible about the challenge. Become a sponge. Notice people. Anticipate. Don't just look, see!

2. Freedom: Brainstorm & Visualize - Have a "free-range brain" and come up with as many solutions as possible. Judge not. Assume nothing is impossible. Observations + Connections = Ideas.

3. Pause: Pause & Detach - Step away from the problem and let it stew in the back of your mind... Einstein said his best ideas came while shaving.

4. Embrace: Edit & Select - While you were pausing "the subconscious mind was doing the heavy lifting. Now the brightest idea floats before you." With the embrace step, "we find a solution that zings."

5. Life: Prototype & Implement - "Breathe life into your idea... In this step you add flesh, bones and heart to your idea. You make it lively and likable." Verify the idea. Modify it to make it better. Be the idea champion.

If you've read a lot about creative problem solving, you'll notice that Harrison hasn't created a new process... He's boiled the key "creative problem solving" steps down to their basic chunks. He provides enough detail, examples, quotes, and tips to take out the frustration and get you to solving problems as quickly as possible.

Details

"Zing!: Five Steps and 101 Tips for Creativity on Command"

• By Sam Harrison
  Genres:
• Brainstorming | Creativity | Problem Solving
  
• Paperback book of 149 pages
  
• Published 2004 by MacHillock Publishing

Idea Sandbox Rating

Dog Ear Score: n/a
(this is one of those books where nearly every page had good nuggets on them - too many pages to dog-ear)
Usability (5/5)
Coverage of Subject (4/5)
Contribution to Topic (3/5)
Ease of Read (5/5)
Visually Pleasing (4/5)

Comments: This book is extremely usable. Nearly every page offers a tactic or method for problem solving. While Harrison doesn't go very deep in the topic, he provides all the key information to effectively use the Zing! process. The book offers little that's new... But that's okay, Harrison allows you to work swiftly with his cut-to-the-chase approach. Can't get much easier to read than this. Big type. Quick examples. Lots of inspirational quotes. Visually simple and clean.

added 9:21 AM | Permalink | reactions (0) | post to del.icio.us | TrackBacks (0)
categorized as CREATIVITY , FIGURE IT OUT > brainstorming , FIGURE IT OUT > problem solving

Looking for a way to spark your thinking? Word association? Can't find that just right word? Try Google Sets (labs.google.com/sets). It is a tool that has been tested by Google for several years - but isn't fully baked (Or else it would be released and promoted). It creates a set of word associations from a starter list you enter.

[snapshot of Google Sets page]

For example... I want to find additional words that mean...

remarkable, meaningful, valuable, relevant

I type these words, click the SMALL SET button and Google predicts these words/concepts to be similar...

valuable, remarkable, relevant, meaningful, significant, fun, accurate, meeting intrinsic student needs, entailing extrinsic rewards

I entered...

frosted flakes, raisin bran, rice krispies, fruit loops

Google Sets returned this predicted list...

Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, Special K, Corn Flakes, Apple Jacks, Product 19, Froot Loops, Honey Nut Cheerios, All Bran, Cornflakes, Clusters, Rice Krispie Treats, Lucky Charms, 40 Bran Flakes, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Pop Tarts, Smart Start, Frosted Mini Wheats, Wheaties, Cheerios, Kashi, Weetabix

Try to find a list of product descriptors. Use this to find action words for your resume. Use it to find descriptors for your Valentine's Day cards...

It's not a search engine, nor a dictionary or quite a thesaurus... but another tool to help spark thinking.

added 4:34 PM | Permalink | reactions (0) | post to del.icio.us | TrackBacks (0)
categorized as FIGURE IT OUT > brainstorming