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Format:Paperback
Those who have read any of Michael Michalko's previously published books, notably Cracking Creativity and Thinkertoys, already know that he has a unique talent for explaining the creative process (making something new) and the innovative process (making something better) and does so creatively and innovatively, in ways and to an extent that almost anyone can understand (a) what they are, (b) how they differ, (c) what they share in common, and (d) how to benefit from them.
In his latest book, he explains how and why conceptual blending of dissimilar subjects, ideas, and concepts is the most important factor in creative thinking. It is not only a matter of "connecting the dots," although that skill important; it also involves "connecting the right dots in the right way" and, more importantly, being able to recognize especially important "dots" that others may not see, much less appreciate.
Michalko organizes his material within two Parts: Creative Thinking and The Creative Thinker. Obviously, the first focuses on various techniques, skills, drills, exempla, and exercises that explain what creative thinking is and can do. In Part II, he explains how almost anyone can become a much more creative thinker. More specifically, how to become much more alert for connections (especially between and among what are significantly dissimilar), intentionally thinking more creatively rather than haphazardly, changing the way one speaks in order to change the way one thinks (he devotes all of Chapter 12 to that), and "Becoming What You Pretend to Be," the title of the next chapter. Long ago, Henry Ford observes, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Michalko wholly agrees, noting that just as attitude can influence behavior, behavior can influence attitude. Of special interest to me is the "Thought Experiment" ("Velten's Instructions," on Pages 183-185"). I'll say no more about it except this: What I learned from completing this exercises - all by itself - is worth far more than the cost of the book.
Here in Dallas, we have a farmers market near the downtown area at which several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as a sample of their wares. In that spirit, I now provide a representative selection of Michalko's insights from among the several hundred I carefully considered:
On Leonardo da Vinci: "His mind integrated information instead of segregating it. This is why he was polymathic. He created breakthroughs in art, science, engineering, military, science, invention, and medicine." This is what Roger martin has in mind, n The Opposable Mind, when he discusses his concept of "integrative thinking." Page 10
On the Edison research center in Menlo, Park (NJ): "Thomas Edison's lab was a big barn with worktables set up side by side that held separate projects in progress. He would work on one project and then another. His workshop was designed to allow one project to infect a neighboring one, so that moves made here might also be tried there. This method of working allowe4d him to consistently rethink the way he saw his projects. You can use separate notebooks to do, in time, what Edison's workshop did in space." Page 70
On the creative thinker: Someone who is "a result of the assembly and interactions of certain critical human traits. First, you must have the intention and desire to be creative; second, you must consciously cultivate positive speaking and thinking patterns; and last, you must act like a creative thinker and go through the motions of being creative every day." Page 145
On creating one's own experiences: "Cognitive scientists have discovered that the brain is a dynamic system - an organ that evolves its patterns of activity rather than computes them like a computer. It thrives on the creative energy of feedback from experiences either real or fictional. An important point to remember is that you can synthesize experience, literally create it in your imagination. The human brain cannot tell the difference between an `actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail." Page 186
I presume to offer two suggestions to those who purchase this book: highlight key passages (my preference is for the Sharpie ACCENT wide tip pen with Smear Guard) and complete the several dozen "Thought Experiment" exercises using a notebook (my preference is the Mead Black Marble Wide-Ruled Composition Book). This really is a workbook without spaces within which to complete the exercises. Fortunately, Michael Michalko has a very creative mind and thus has been into his book a lively and substantive interaction between his reader and the material he provides.
Those who have read any of Michael Michalko's previously published books, notably Cracking Creativity and Thinkertoys, already know that he has a unique talent for explaining the creative process (making something new) and the innovative process (making something better) and does so creatively and innovatively, in ways and to an extent that almost anyone can understand (a) what they are, (b) how they differ, (c) what they share in common, and (d) how to benefit from them.
In his latest book, he explains how and why conceptual blending of dissimilar subjects, ideas, and concepts is the most important factor in creative thinking. It is not only a matter of "connecting the dots," although that skill important; it also involves "connecting the right dots in the right way" and, more importantly, being able to recognize especially important "dots" that others may not see, much less appreciate.
Michalko organizes his material within two Parts: Creative Thinking and The Creative Thinker. Obviously, the first focuses on various techniques, skills, drills, exempla, and exercises that explain what creative thinking is and can do. In Part II, he explains how almost anyone can become a much more creative thinker. More specifically, how to become much more alert for connections (especially between and among what are significantly dissimilar), intentionally thinking more creatively rather than haphazardly, changing the way one speaks in order to change the way one thinks (he devotes all of Chapter 12 to that), and "Becoming What You Pretend to Be," the title of the next chapter. Long ago, Henry Ford observes, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Michalko wholly agrees, noting that just as attitude can influence behavior, behavior can influence attitude. Of special interest to me is the "Thought Experiment" ("Velten's Instructions," on Pages 183-185"). I'll say no more about it except this: What I learned from completing this exercises - all by itself - is worth far more than the cost of the book.
Here in Dallas, we have a farmers market near the downtown area at which several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as a sample of their wares. In that spirit, I now provide a representative selection of Michalko's insights from among the several hundred I carefully considered:
On Leonardo da Vinci: "His mind integrated information instead of segregating it. This is why he was polymathic. He created breakthroughs in art, science, engineering, military, science, invention, and medicine." This is what Roger martin has in mind, n The Opposable Mind, when he discusses his concept of "integrative thinking." Page 10
On the Edison research center in Menlo, Park (NJ): "Thomas Edison's lab was a big barn with worktables set up side by side that held separate projects in progress. He would work on one project and then another. His workshop was designed to allow one project to infect a neighboring one, so that moves made here might also be tried there. This method of working allowe4d him to consistently rethink the way he saw his projects. You can use separate notebooks to do, in time, what Edison's workshop did in space." Page 70
On the creative thinker: Someone who is "a result of the assembly and interactions of certain critical human traits. First, you must have the intention and desire to be creative; second, you must consciously cultivate positive speaking and thinking patterns; and last, you must act like a creative thinker and go through the motions of being creative every day." Page 145
On creating one's own experiences: "Cognitive scientists have discovered that the brain is a dynamic system - an organ that evolves its patterns of activity rather than computes them like a computer. It thrives on the creative energy of feedback from experiences either real or fictional. An important point to remember is that you can synthesize experience, literally create it in your imagination. The human brain cannot tell the difference between an `actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail." Page 186
I presume to offer two suggestions to those who purchase this book: highlight key passages (my preference is for the Sharpie ACCENT wide tip pen with Smear Guard) and complete the several dozen "Thought Experiment" exercises using a notebook (my preference is the Mead Black Marble Wide-Ruled Composition Book). This really is a workbook without spaces within which to complete the exercises. Fortunately, Michael Michalko has a very creative mind and thus has been into his book a lively and substantive interaction between his reader and the material he provides.
In his latest book, he explains how and why conceptual blending of dissimilar subjects, ideas, and concepts is the most important factor in creative thinking. It is not only a matter of "connecting the dots," although that skill important; it also involves "connecting the right dots in the right way" and, more importantly, being able to recognize especially important "dots" that others may not see, much less appreciate.
Michalko organizes his material within two Parts: Creative Thinking and The Creative Thinker. Obviously, the first focuses on various techniques, skills, drills, exempla, and exercises that explain what creative thinking is and can do. In Part II, he explains how almost anyone can become a much more creative thinker. More specifically, how to become much more alert for connections (especially between and among what are significantly dissimilar), intentionally thinking more creatively rather than haphazardly, changing the way one speaks in order to change the way one thinks (he devotes all of Chapter 12 to that), and "Becoming What You Pretend to Be," the title of the next chapter. Long ago, Henry Ford observes, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Michalko wholly agrees, noting that just as attitude can influence behavior, behavior can influence attitude. Of special interest to me is the "Thought Experiment" ("Velten's Instructions," on Pages 183-185"). I'll say no more about it except this: What I learned from completing this exercises - all by itself - is worth far more than the cost of the book.
Here in Dallas, we have a farmers market near the downtown area at which several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as a sample of their wares. In that spirit, I now provide a representative selection of Michalko's insights from among the several hundred I carefully considered:
On Leonardo da Vinci: "His mind integrated information instead of segregating it. This is why he was polymathic. He created breakthroughs in art, science, engineering, military, science, invention, and medicine." This is what Roger martin has in mind, n The Opposable Mind, when he discusses his concept of "integrative thinking." Page 10
On the Edison research center in Menlo, Park (NJ): "Thomas Edison's lab was a big barn with worktables set up side by side that held separate projects in progress. He would work on one project and then another. His workshop was designed to allow one project to infect a neighboring one, so that moves made here might also be tried there. This method of working allowe4d him to consistently rethink the way he saw his projects. You can use separate notebooks to do, in time, what Edison's workshop did in space." Page 70
On the creative thinker: Someone who is "a result of the assembly and interactions of certain critical human traits. First, you must have the intention and desire to be creative; second, you must consciously cultivate positive speaking and thinking patterns; and last, you must act like a creative thinker and go through the motions of being creative every day." Page 145
On creating one's own experiences: "Cognitive scientists have discovered that the brain is a dynamic system - an organ that evolves its patterns of activity rather than computes them like a computer. It thrives on the creative energy of feedback from experiences either real or fictional. An important point to remember is that you can synthesize experience, literally create it in your imagination. The human brain cannot tell the difference between an `actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail." Page 186
I presume to offer two suggestions to those who purchase this book: highlight key passages (my preference is for the Sharpie ACCENT wide tip pen with Smear Guard) and complete the several dozen "Thought Experiment" exercises using a notebook (my preference is the Mead Black Marble Wide-Ruled Composition Book). This really is a workbook without spaces within which to complete the exercises. Fortunately, Michael Michalko has a very creative mind and thus has been into his book a lively and substantive interaction between his reader and the material he provides.
Those who have read any of Michael Michalko's previously published books, notably Cracking Creativity and Thinkertoys, already know that he has a unique talent for explaining the creative process (making something new) and the innovative process (making something better) and does so creatively and innovatively, in ways and to an extent that almost anyone can understand (a) what they are, (b) how they differ, (c) what they share in common, and (d) how to benefit from them.
In his latest book, he explains how and why conceptual blending of dissimilar subjects, ideas, and concepts is the most important factor in creative thinking. It is not only a matter of "connecting the dots," although that skill important; it also involves "connecting the right dots in the right way" and, more importantly, being able to recognize especially important "dots" that others may not see, much less appreciate.
Michalko organizes his material within two Parts: Creative Thinking and The Creative Thinker. Obviously, the first focuses on various techniques, skills, drills, exempla, and exercises that explain what creative thinking is and can do. In Part II, he explains how almost anyone can become a much more creative thinker. More specifically, how to become much more alert for connections (especially between and among what are significantly dissimilar), intentionally thinking more creatively rather than haphazardly, changing the way one speaks in order to change the way one thinks (he devotes all of Chapter 12 to that), and "Becoming What You Pretend to Be," the title of the next chapter. Long ago, Henry Ford observes, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Michalko wholly agrees, noting that just as attitude can influence behavior, behavior can influence attitude. Of special interest to me is the "Thought Experiment" ("Velten's Instructions," on Pages 183-185"). I'll say no more about it except this: What I learned from completing this exercises - all by itself - is worth far more than the cost of the book.
Here in Dallas, we have a farmers market near the downtown area at which several merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as a sample of their wares. In that spirit, I now provide a representative selection of Michalko's insights from among the several hundred I carefully considered:
On Leonardo da Vinci: "His mind integrated information instead of segregating it. This is why he was polymathic. He created breakthroughs in art, science, engineering, military, science, invention, and medicine." This is what Roger martin has in mind, n The Opposable Mind, when he discusses his concept of "integrative thinking." Page 10
On the Edison research center in Menlo, Park (NJ): "Thomas Edison's lab was a big barn with worktables set up side by side that held separate projects in progress. He would work on one project and then another. His workshop was designed to allow one project to infect a neighboring one, so that moves made here might also be tried there. This method of working allowe4d him to consistently rethink the way he saw his projects. You can use separate notebooks to do, in time, what Edison's workshop did in space." Page 70
On the creative thinker: Someone who is "a result of the assembly and interactions of certain critical human traits. First, you must have the intention and desire to be creative; second, you must consciously cultivate positive speaking and thinking patterns; and last, you must act like a creative thinker and go through the motions of being creative every day." Page 145
On creating one's own experiences: "Cognitive scientists have discovered that the brain is a dynamic system - an organ that evolves its patterns of activity rather than computes them like a computer. It thrives on the creative energy of feedback from experiences either real or fictional. An important point to remember is that you can synthesize experience, literally create it in your imagination. The human brain cannot tell the difference between an `actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail." Page 186
I presume to offer two suggestions to those who purchase this book: highlight key passages (my preference is for the Sharpie ACCENT wide tip pen with Smear Guard) and complete the several dozen "Thought Experiment" exercises using a notebook (my preference is the Mead Black Marble Wide-Ruled Composition Book). This really is a workbook without spaces within which to complete the exercises. Fortunately, Michael Michalko has a very creative mind and thus has been into his book a lively and substantive interaction between his reader and the material he provides.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Another Masterpiece From the Master
4 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback
Michael Michalko will take you on a delicious ride to the next evolutionary level of understanding why creative thinking is often counterintuitive and what methods work to break stilted thinking. Not a day goes by that I don't employ several of Michael's methods. I hope you utilize and enjoy the genius found in CREATIVE THINKERING to carve out a new way of thinking and living that will bring you the fulfillment those methods have brought me. Michael Michalko is the only writer on creativity who offers palpable, common sense tools you can put to work on a daily basis. It is beyond me why anyone would not want to have all of Michalko's books. Simple methods, inexpensive, fascinating, fun . . . and they produce results.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A creative gem stone!
29 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
I've found a real jewel of a book recently. Let me make a direct statement here: Michael Michalko's new book Creative Thinkering -- is a real gem stone. Just finished reading in one go on a flight across the pond -- and it was a mind-bendingly delightful and informative read - Chicago to London has never gone so quickly.
Thought provoking and interactive, Creative Thinkering, really gets you...thinking...in a fresh way about the meaning and "how to" of invention and breakthrough problem solving. It's packed with information about the nature of creativity. It flows logically, it has lots of juicy real life stories and examples, and it's absolutely loaded with germane and fun visuals. I'd add that it's also emotionally engaging and it has you realising that, yes, I can be more creative. His "thinkering" exercises have you proving it to yourself, it's really creative empowerment.
This book deserves a wide readership -- creative thinking could use a breakthrough book. It's one of the weird things about the field, that is, the people mostly likely to read a creativity book are those that don't need it. Creative Thinkering bridges the perception gap and opens up creative vistas -- even for those who don't believe they have the creative gene. Creative Thinkering de-mystifies the mythology that surrounds creativity, although if anything I finish the book even more awestruck about the power of imagination. Michalko elaborates extensively on the concept of "conceptual blending" which, in essence, is a mash-up in someone's mind of unrelated concepts that has them coming up with fresh, breakthrough ideas. This is a thinking capacity we all have, but one that few of us tap into. This conceptual blending is not an entirely new idea, but it's never been so well explained. In summary, I'd say that Creative Thinkering provides greater access to creativity -- served up in this gleaming silver platter of a book.
Order a copy now and give yourself the gift of imagination.
Thought provoking and interactive, Creative Thinkering, really gets you...thinking...in a fresh way about the meaning and "how to" of invention and breakthrough problem solving. It's packed with information about the nature of creativity. It flows logically, it has lots of juicy real life stories and examples, and it's absolutely loaded with germane and fun visuals. I'd add that it's also emotionally engaging and it has you realising that, yes, I can be more creative. His "thinkering" exercises have you proving it to yourself, it's really creative empowerment.
This book deserves a wide readership -- creative thinking could use a breakthrough book. It's one of the weird things about the field, that is, the people mostly likely to read a creativity book are those that don't need it. Creative Thinkering bridges the perception gap and opens up creative vistas -- even for those who don't believe they have the creative gene. Creative Thinkering de-mystifies the mythology that surrounds creativity, although if anything I finish the book even more awestruck about the power of imagination. Michalko elaborates extensively on the concept of "conceptual blending" which, in essence, is a mash-up in someone's mind of unrelated concepts that has them coming up with fresh, breakthrough ideas. This is a thinking capacity we all have, but one that few of us tap into. This conceptual blending is not an entirely new idea, but it's never been so well explained. In summary, I'd say that Creative Thinkering provides greater access to creativity -- served up in this gleaming silver platter of a book.
Order a copy now and give yourself the gift of imagination.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Creative Weapons Grade Ammunition to Solve Problems
29 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
First, let me say what a great fan I am of Michael Michalko and his books. I learned so much from him over the years! One famous innovator was asked what his greatest accomplishment was. He replied, "My next one." That saying may very well apply to Michael's latest crowning achievement, "Creative Thinkering." Like neurons packed tightly in the brain of a genius, this book is filled with ideas, tips techniques, examples and thought-provokers to stimulate and hot fire up your own neurons to do great things. Let's face it, our world is awash with all sorts of monumental economic, political, social, religious, environmental and energy problems and threats to say the least. We absolutely cannot solve them at the level of thinking we did in the past. NO WAY! In comes Mr. Michalko with his latest cerebrally-engineered problem-solving weapon to attack the core of our biggest problems by giving us incredible ammunition to think in a 360 degree fashion. Think different, think deeper, think broader, think upside down, think right side up. But DON'T think in one dimension in the usual way you might, his book tells us. We can't afford that. Rethink, reinvent, reinvigorate. That's what the information in this book helps you to do ever so elegantly.
We know that innovation is applied creativity. Most people think of innovation as technological advances. But anytime you use mild-to-wild ideas yo improve ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, you are being innovative. But it all starts with coming up with those unusual, "original," maybe weird, but useful and valuable ideas. Michalko's book is like a survival guide in navigating dangerous paths in front of us. And it is also a paperback golden goose that will help you gather rich eggs of opportunities and possibilities the likes of which you never thought yourself able to do to this extent. On the top of the book is written, "Putting Your Imagination to Work." There's no finer text to help you do that than Michael's book, Creative Thinkering." Oh, and while you're at it, Michael makes creative fun out of creative work. Who could ask for more? Get thinkering, get doing. "Let's make a dent in the world," as Apple's Steve Jobs would say!
We know that innovation is applied creativity. Most people think of innovation as technological advances. But anytime you use mild-to-wild ideas yo improve ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, you are being innovative. But it all starts with coming up with those unusual, "original," maybe weird, but useful and valuable ideas. Michalko's book is like a survival guide in navigating dangerous paths in front of us. And it is also a paperback golden goose that will help you gather rich eggs of opportunities and possibilities the likes of which you never thought yourself able to do to this extent. On the top of the book is written, "Putting Your Imagination to Work." There's no finer text to help you do that than Michael's book, Creative Thinkering." Oh, and while you're at it, Michael makes creative fun out of creative work. Who could ask for more? Get thinkering, get doing. "Let's make a dent in the world," as Apple's Steve Jobs would say!
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