This book is supposed to be on creativity but mainly expains various parts of the brain and how they work, with a reference in each chapter to creativity, a few chapters on creativity influences and many short exercises to stimulate creativity.
Maybe it's a translation failure but the author, who is Argentinian, tells us that gorillas are humans' nearest relatives. No, the common ancestor of the chimpanzee and the bonobo split from the evolutionary branch with us more recently than the ancestor of the gorilla.
The author was surprised when, two years after he gained his PhD, a university advisor suggested he explain a work problem to the college janitors, who spoke Spanish. How did the man get that far in science and not know that Einstein suggested explaining a complex problem to one's grandmother if one wanted to understand it? (The suggestion worked.)
We could really, really do with a picture or two of the brain, with parts labelled. No pictures, diagrams or charts are given. I'd suggest a few showing how we differ from monkeys, great apes and individuals with brain damage.
The test your creativity quiz. Questions are scored one to five; it is obvious that those answering one are answering for a more creative mindset, work environment or job. "I have a good system for generating new ideas for any type of challenge. Strongly agree 1, agree 2, neutral 3, disagree 4, strongly disagree 5." We are told to add up our scores and those scoring 130 to 150 are in the top ten percent of creative individuals, those 110 - 129 with room for improvement, 85 - 109 not great, 84 or less, in a danger zone for low creativity. This should be checked by copy-editors if the author can't put the effort in to check it himself.
Talking about 'Beeman observed' problem solving and associated brainwaves, the author tells of alpha wave activity, visual input, gamma brainwaves and firing neurons. "But once that cocktail of neurochemicals vanishes our motivation quickly subsides." Which neurochemicals would those be? He hasn't mentioned any.
Overall this comes across as something dictated rather than written, with frequent stream of consciousness, much reference to other people's experiments and none to experiments of his own. The author lets us know of his apparently threatening traffic (traffic is polite here) and keeps reminding us about leopards, when for modern human history we've been under much more threat from humans.
The author adds that anyone can be creative - but I tend to think that the readership is self-selecting and those not interested in creativity are not going to read this book. He also says that high creativity does not mean high intelligence. Tell that to any fan of Beethoven or Yeats.
I'm surprised that we are never told about the physical aspect of neuroplasticity. The neuron fires an electrical spark which, to insulate it from all the wrong receptors, is sent down the dendrite which is coated in fat, the myelin sheath. This is one reason why we need fat in our diets. The insulation gets worn a tiny bit by the spark and it is easier for the same path to be taken again, physically easier, than for a different path to be taken. We literally melt a little groove along the fatty brain. I believe this is why all religions require repetition, chanting, known responses, head bowing, gestures and physical movement like getting up and kneeling down, the more often repeated in company the better, in order to indoctrinate the growing brain and make paths well established by habit until only the creative, the strong-willed or those forced to can break out of the routine.
The frequent suggestions for making yourself more creative, come down to thinking of a number of new ways to do something or combine words or ideas. The author however limits himself by proposing only one answer to three little puzzles; "III + III = III" make it correct with one match moved. He says to make both actions + whereas I say this does not complete anything and it should be make both actions =. A puzzle about treating a tumour "has only one resolution not everyone will see," but I immediately saw two other options such as swallowing a tube carrying a miniaturised tool. And he divides A,E and F from B,C,D on the basis that B,C,D are more rounded - while I saw that, I first saw that B has a midpoint cross bar the same as A,E,F.
A portion I do agree with is studies of hyper-creative people, showing how they can be both introverted and extroverts at different times, modest but proud, strongly dedicated to the process of their creation and willing to make mistakes. And yes, the subconscious does answer a lot of our questions; the author does not go as far as suggesting we ask the subsconscious nicely to pull up the answer or show us in a dream, which I can do.
Overall I am not impressed and my science based husband was even less impressed when I kept telling him of the errors in the text. But if you have not done any creativity boosting work it may be helpful.
Notes on pages 239 - 245. I counted eleven names I could be sure were female.
I borrowed this book from Raheny Library. This is an unbiased review.