Imagine: How Creativity Works [Hardcover]

'Imagine should appeal to everyone, not just because of Lehrer's compelling writing style but also because it puts paid to the idea that creativity is a gift enjoyed only by the lucky few. We can all be more creative, we just need to know how. This book will show you' --New Scientist

'This is an inspiring and engaging book that reveals creativity as less a sign of rare genius than a natural human potential' -- The Economist

'Jonah Lehrer's new book confirms what his fans have known all along - that he knows more about science than a lot of scientists and more about writing than a lot of writers' -- Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point

'Jonah Lehrer may be the most talented explainer of science that we've got. His engrossing investigation of creativity and its source makes Imagine his best book yet' -- Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein

'Not many writers can make plausible links among musicians Bob Dylan, Yo-Yo Ma and David Byrne, animators at Pixar, neuroscientists at MIT, an amateur bartender in New York, entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and Israeli army reservists . . . But Jonah Lehrer is such a writer-reporter, who weaves compelling and surprising connections based on detailed investigation and deep understanding . . . Reading his book exercises the imagination; the rest is up to us' -- Washington Post

'Lehrer is a thrilling multifaceted narrator...what Lehrer achieves in this book is a roaming yet cohesive description of the creative process, applied across disciplines' -- Observer

'An ecumenical hodgepodge of sociology, neuroscience and motivational examples that should be read by anyone with an interest in how human creativity works' -- Kevin Power, Sunday Business Post

'Lehrer unpicks the triggers that bring about bouts of creativity, be it Bob Dylan's writing or an engineer inventing the Post-it note. It could improve your chances of coming up with an idea of your own' -- Esquire Magazine

'The must-read book of the year for chief executives and wannabe entrepreneurs everywhere, a modern business bible for the enlightened boss' --Murad Ahmed, The Times

'This compelling discussion of the creative process speaks to our scientific age' --Stephen Cave, Financial Times

'Imagine moves engagingly between cutting-edge neuroscience and cultural sociology. It offers a double-sided portrait of invention and discovery' -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'If all science books were as successful in bridging the divide between art and science as this one is, there would no longer be a divide to bridge' -- Ian Critchley, Sunday Times

'[A] fascinating study of the mind' -- Word Magazine

'A snappy, sassy tour d'horizon of the state of the science of creativity' --New Statesman

Jonah Lehrer is editor at large for Seed magazine and the author of The Decisive Moment: How the Brain Makes Up Its Mind. A graduate of Columbia University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Lehrer has worked in the lab of Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel. He has written for the New Yorker, Boston Globe, Washington Post, NPR and New Scientist, and writes a highly regarded blog, The Frontal Cortex.