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6th out of 40 books
—
18 voters
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Creativity is about capturing those moments that make life worth living. The author's objective is to offer an understanding of what leads to these moments, be it the excitement of the artist at the easel or the scientist in the lab, so that knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. Drawing on 100 interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to...more
Paperback, 372 pages
Published
May 9th 1997
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1996)
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If and when I begin my Oprah-esque empire, in addition to constantly touting Fizzy Lizzy's (best drink ever!!!) I will also employ this brilliant man as my guru. Fortunately for my fan base, this man is an actually intellectual who has devoted himself to the study of psychology and not some quack that believes if you just imagine that you have a refrigerator with a DVD player, one will materialize. Also, Csikszentmihali never did a match.com commercial.
This was a good if not a great book. Its greatest strength lies in the thesis introduced early on and supported throughout that the kind of creativity that leaves a trace in the cultural matrix rests not in the personal creativity of the individual, but in what Csikszentmihalyi tags the “systems approach “ to creativity. To have any effect, a creative idea must be couched in terms that are understandable to others, pass muster with the experts in the field (i.e. the gatekeepers to the domain), a...more
Dec 10, 2012
Charlotte Hutson Wrenn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
artists, scientists, curious people
Recommended to Charlotte Hutson by:
self
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I could not put this book down. I am an artist, and the interviews with other creative people fascinated me. The book is highly accessible, full of great research, and actually changed me. I marked it up for reference like I usually do so I can refer back to important parts but I think I may read the entire book again it was so good. Highly recommend.
The book is accessible and at times very interesting when delving into the traits and behaviours that make creative people creative. When it looks for the backgrounds and root causes for people's creativity it reaches conclusions too fast and heads for the nearest plausible narrative. When the author moves out of his field of study to put creativity in greater context he is also on thin ice. The worst exampple being when he claims that systemic thinkers (sociologists, environmentalists etc) have...more
Mihaly's book on creativity is certainly an original attempt at improving the understanding of creativity -- "... to bring into existence something genuinely new that is valued enough to be added to the culture"
Based on interviews of more than 90 renowned creative individuals there is substance and weight to the conclusions presented.
In some chapters the book it feels like the work relies too much on citing passages of the interview. More work could have gone into distilling the information an...more
Based on interviews of more than 90 renowned creative individuals there is substance and weight to the conclusions presented.
In some chapters the book it feels like the work relies too much on citing passages of the interview. More work could have gone into distilling the information an...more
In general, this is a very good book, though there's this one point that bugs me the most: the author reduces creative people into some kind of one-trick pony, people who are very well-versed and competent at their own fields of expertise but lack knowledge and skill at other things. While the logic is sound (to be some kind of expert, after all, you need to spend your whole life practicing and honing a very specific skill set -- and this leaves you with very small time to develop another intere...more
I studied the legendary Csikszentmihalyi's works as a university student and I had wondered how his reputation would hold up. His writing is clear and beautiful, reminding of clearest of science writers. Ah, that was meant as a compliment.
Csikszentmihalyi is mostly interested in capital 'C' creativity or in works of genius. How did geniuses grow and develop their talent? In the main, his book details that the lives and childhood experiences of people destined to be geniuses are remarkable divers...more
Csikszentmihalyi is mostly interested in capital 'C' creativity or in works of genius. How did geniuses grow and develop their talent? In the main, his book details that the lives and childhood experiences of people destined to be geniuses are remarkable divers...more
I finished this tonight, the first of many books I'm reading for my last school paper. I've wanted to read a book by Csikszentmihalyi for a long time, and I don't know if this is the one I'd like best, but it's okay.
Although I'm currently looking at phronesis and concrete thinking, this book added unrelated things to study next to my list: unpredictability in molecules, principle of sanctuary, tumor biology. Basically more of the science stuff.
And it made me very happy to read that people put in...more
Although I'm currently looking at phronesis and concrete thinking, this book added unrelated things to study next to my list: unpredictability in molecules, principle of sanctuary, tumor biology. Basically more of the science stuff.
And it made me very happy to read that people put in...more
I believe this is a seminal book for anyone interested in the psychology of the creative process.
I first read Creativity in 1998-1999 and enjoyed it then, but recently picked it up again to take on a trip with me. This time, some 11 years later and after a major career change, the books means so much more to me. I think that is because the first time I read it, I was looking for ways to bring more creativity into my life. Now, after a few years of focusing on art as my career, the content deepl...more
I first read Creativity in 1998-1999 and enjoyed it then, but recently picked it up again to take on a trip with me. This time, some 11 years later and after a major career change, the books means so much more to me. I think that is because the first time I read it, I was looking for ways to bring more creativity into my life. Now, after a few years of focusing on art as my career, the content deepl...more
Quite the intriguing read.
If you care at all about creativity (and you should), this book is at least worth flipping through.
A lot of what I got from the book can be surmised from chapter titles and skimming through reading topic sentences. It often reads like something of a textbook--it's not a narrative, but draws upon interviews with hundreds of creative individuals (including nobel prize winners, CEOs, writers, poets, and more), offering insights based on trends and with copious excerpts fro...more
If you care at all about creativity (and you should), this book is at least worth flipping through.
A lot of what I got from the book can be surmised from chapter titles and skimming through reading topic sentences. It often reads like something of a textbook--it's not a narrative, but draws upon interviews with hundreds of creative individuals (including nobel prize winners, CEOs, writers, poets, and more), offering insights based on trends and with copious excerpts fro...more
This work attempts to some degree to characterize creativity based on interviews with creative individuals. I think some of the definitions, including that of creativity, were limiting, but I guess the author chose to do it to make his points. For example, the author says that an artist is not "Creative" unless the field recognizes the artist as such, and that an artist can easily be "Creative" during the Renaissance but not now due to changes in artistic opinion. I just didn't care for that emp...more
Not your typical book with a main character. Mihaly pulls in different examples from his scholarly research to prove to the reader that 'flow' exists and is worth taking a deeper look into it. The examples range from Einstein to modern day artists and scientists. As a person raised in an athletic environment it touched base my desire to understand a common trait between academics/athletics/music/etc...
I enjoyed the bits where he quotes from his selection of creative people on their work ethic, attitude towards work and all. Some of his own recommendations for creative thinking come across as very familiar, probably because the genre is oversaturated. His methodology is very interesting, and some of the insights from people he spoke to are unexpected but fun to learn from
A very thorough study of creativity among some very, very successful individuals (can't help but feel a little mediocre after reading this). Much of this book is qualitative description, and whilst informative and valuable to the discussion, makes it somewhat tedious (especially the middle-end chapters). Some great ideas and thoughts which will be of value to most who read it.
Another great book by the Hungarian-American prof of positive psychology whose name is too hard to remember and write. Cited in Wikipedia as one of the world's leading experts on the social and psychological features of happiness and creativity, this book has Mihaly describing the relationship between his idea of flow and the creation of new ideas. Another page-turner.
This is a very interesting and well considered look at the common trends of creative lives. Written as the summation of a huge body of interviews and study, this work provides the reader with a look at some of the traits that do and do not define the creative individual. While it cannot directly tell us how to be more creative, it does provide some good practices at the end that can definitely help align the reader to a more creative lifestyle. Most importantly, it demonstrates how people have f...more
Fairly comprehensive. Defines what creativity (big [C] and little [c]) is and is not. It also describes the circumstances that promote or prevent it and recommends how to increase one's creativity. There are lots of anecdotal use of creative peoples as examples, but the book could be a lot shorter with fewer of them.
I recommend anything from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi... Nevertheless, in this case, I find the numbers and statistic get too predominant, but his definition of creativity, as well as the whole idea of being in a "state of flow", are just really inspiring. Give it a try!
I thought it was very interesting and thought provoking. It hurt my brain to read - as I haven't read something like this since college. A good stretch for me ;-)
Jan 17, 2011
Sakethnath
added it
A good read but a bit tedious. This is a researched book and well written on creativity.
One of the good books I can say on Creativity.
Saketh
One of the good books I can say on Creativity.
Saketh
I really think that when I read this book I knew a lot in life. I was wrong, but delighted I was learning something new and valuable. Great book!
Fortunately Csikszentmihalyi is easier to understand than his name is to pronounce. I'm tempted to recommend this book but I think I'll try his book on Flow first.
One of the best books I've ever read.
It is filled with nice little stories about creatives from all fields and it gives an idea of Flow.
It is filled with nice little stories about creatives from all fields and it gives an idea of Flow.
Author did research on people over 60 years old, on creativityh and flow.
has good section on defining flow, more later.
has good section on defining flow, more later.
Lots of good insights, but also lots of frustrating generalities, and many unsuccessful attempts at eloquence - for example:
"As we have seen, creative individuals seem to have relatively complex personalities. Neither the centrifugal nor the centripetal force prevails--they are able to keep in balance the contrary tendencies that make some people turn inward until each becomes a hard shell, and others fly outward at random" (362-3). Lets be honest - what the hell does that mean.
I enjoyed the f...more
"As we have seen, creative individuals seem to have relatively complex personalities. Neither the centrifugal nor the centripetal force prevails--they are able to keep in balance the contrary tendencies that make some people turn inward until each becomes a hard shell, and others fly outward at random" (362-3). Lets be honest - what the hell does that mean.
I enjoyed the f...more
I found this dense to read, and I love the topic. Worth keeping in the library if it's part of your research or interest.
This was sometimes hard going and it should be understood that it is written from the professional viewpoint of a psychologist applying observations and related concepts in a social engineering type of perspective. I was reading it to gain more understanding about the breadth which individuals bring to the process of creativity, a subject in which I've long been interested from the perspective of an artist and writer. I definitely respected some of the insights, but I wasn't receptive to this ty...more
How learning and discovering new things leads you to happiness. http://bit.ly/YU20pr
Important book that looks at what creativity is and how people can enhance it
Okay, so I didn't actually finish this. I may pick it up again later
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A Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College.
He is noted for both his work in the study of happiness and creativity and also for his notoriously difficult name, i...more
More about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi...
He is noted for both his work in the study of happiness and creativity and also for his notoriously difficult name, i...more
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“In other words, if Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy showed more than their fair share of pathology it was due less to the requirements of their creative work than to the personal sufferings caused by the unhealthy conditions of a Russian society nearing collapse. If so many American poets and playwrights committed suicide or ended up addicted to drugs and alcohol it was not their creativity that did it but an artistic scene that promised much, gave few rewards and left nine out of ten artists neglected if not ignored.”
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“All our contemporaries...had some big ideology to live for. Everybody thought he had to either fight in Spain or die for something else, and most of us had to be in prison for one reason or another. And then at the end it turns out that none of these great ideologies was worth your sacrificing anything for. Even doing personal good is very difficult to be absolutely sure about. It's very difficult to know exactly whether to live for an ideology or even to live for doing good. But there cannot be anything wrong in making a pot, I'll tell you. When making a pot you can't bring any evil into the world. - Eva Zeisel, ceramist.”
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