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Creativity 101
...Full of keen and illuminating insight...Written with creative flair and great elegance." Robert Olen Butler
Author, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction
...Witty, charming, and informative... Creativity 101 makes a convincing case for the importance of creativity in society, in our schools, and in our daily lives....And no, we aren't related." Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD
Author, The Psychology of Creative Writing
[An] excellent primer or review of what is out there in terms of research, definitions, theoretical considerations, and leading thinkers in the world of creativity."-- Gifted and Talented International What is creativity and how can we measure it? Creativity 101 serves as a brief, engaging introduction to the field of creativity. Dr. Kaufman presents the cutting-edge research and analyzes new and emerging theories in the field. This book investigates the many definitions of creativity, as well as how it is manifested and measured in schools, the workplace, business, art, media, and more.
Key Topics Discussed:
Author, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction
...Witty, charming, and informative... Creativity 101 makes a convincing case for the importance of creativity in society, in our schools, and in our daily lives....And no, we aren't related." Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD
Author, The Psychology of Creative Writing
[An] excellent primer or review of what is out there in terms of research, definitions, theoretical considerations, and leading thinkers in the world of creativity."-- Gifted and Talented International What is creativity and how can we measure it? Creativity 101 serves as a brief, engaging introduction to the field of creativity. Dr. Kaufman presents the cutting-edge research and analyzes new and emerging theories in the field. This book investigates the many definitions of creativity, as well as how it is manifested and measured in schools, the workplace, business, art, media, and more.
Key Topics Discussed:
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 2003
19 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 5, 2016
If you like lots research and science with your learning, this book has it in spades without being too dense.
I read this book as research for my own writing projects. It gave me exactly what I needed -- solid science about creativity and useful frameworks for teaching creativity to others.
Reading this book was like having my own research assistant collecting the best data for me.
Kaufman clearly is familiar with the current creativity findings and theories. He shares several frameworks for analyzing and developing creativity.
He shares interesting studies and examples to illustrate the main findings.
Some people have complained about the writing style. His references are included inline with the sentence. This does break things up a bit. Footnotes would have been nice.
I was pleasantly surprised by the readability overall. I expected very dense academic writing. So my expectations were low going in.
It's not you're easiest most entertaining read. It's a science summary book. Keep that in mind.
It's well organized, allowing you to find the stuff that interests you most. I only read the first half since that's what related to my current projects. It was worth the price just for those first few chapters.
Whether you're a scientist, artist or business manager, this book will provide valuable insights. I recommend just reading the chapters that relate to your interests.
I read this book as research for my own writing projects. It gave me exactly what I needed -- solid science about creativity and useful frameworks for teaching creativity to others.
Reading this book was like having my own research assistant collecting the best data for me.
Kaufman clearly is familiar with the current creativity findings and theories. He shares several frameworks for analyzing and developing creativity.
He shares interesting studies and examples to illustrate the main findings.
Some people have complained about the writing style. His references are included inline with the sentence. This does break things up a bit. Footnotes would have been nice.
I was pleasantly surprised by the readability overall. I expected very dense academic writing. So my expectations were low going in.
It's not you're easiest most entertaining read. It's a science summary book. Keep that in mind.
It's well organized, allowing you to find the stuff that interests you most. I only read the first half since that's what related to my current projects. It was worth the price just for those first few chapters.
Whether you're a scientist, artist or business manager, this book will provide valuable insights. I recommend just reading the chapters that relate to your interests.
February 13, 2012
This book was really inexpensive so I picked it up from Amazon, it touches on the subject of Creativity (duh!) and what defines it.
What makes a person creative? What makes one creative person different from another?
I really liked some of the sections, like the one on Historiometrics, pioneered by Simonton. He defined creative people based on their biographies and factual information. In one of his studies, he divided the lives of 10 composers (Bach, Mozart, Chopin...) into five-year periods and measured each composer's productivity based on works and themes. Here's what he found: The composers who wrote the best music, wrote the most music. Quality is related to quantity.
As a writer I found that interesting. That means: the more we write, the better writer we become.
There was also discussed the correlation between creativity and mood. Does being in a bad mood make you a more creative person? The findings are still inconclusive but there are basis for both theories.
Why did I give the book only three stars?
It's not the content, it's the way the content is laid out. Instead of adding footnotes, he often places the references right in the paragraphs, leading to long, hard to read paragraphs. I found myself skipping points because of the excessive citations.
Other than that, an interesting read.
What makes a person creative? What makes one creative person different from another?
I really liked some of the sections, like the one on Historiometrics, pioneered by Simonton. He defined creative people based on their biographies and factual information. In one of his studies, he divided the lives of 10 composers (Bach, Mozart, Chopin...) into five-year periods and measured each composer's productivity based on works and themes. Here's what he found: The composers who wrote the best music, wrote the most music. Quality is related to quantity.
As a writer I found that interesting. That means: the more we write, the better writer we become.
There was also discussed the correlation between creativity and mood. Does being in a bad mood make you a more creative person? The findings are still inconclusive but there are basis for both theories.
Why did I give the book only three stars?
It's not the content, it's the way the content is laid out. Instead of adding footnotes, he often places the references right in the paragraphs, leading to long, hard to read paragraphs. I found myself skipping points because of the excessive citations.
Other than that, an interesting read.
November 26, 2012
I found James Kaufman's Creativity 101 to be an extremely difficult book to read. Mainly, because of the writing style and or way he chose to write in citations. I would often find myself losing my train of thought while reading because i was reading through the incredibly long citations.
I feel like the information provided was quite good and kept me well informed. It goes in depth about the mechanisms of being creative and how people are able to be creative in certain paths.
This book seems like it would only be suitable for certain areas of a creative course of study. This is one of the reasons why I rated it three out of five stars because in the wrong setting this book could be short and the need for another book for more coverage of creativity would be need. Would I recommend it? Possibly, considering what course it is being used for.
I feel like the information provided was quite good and kept me well informed. It goes in depth about the mechanisms of being creative and how people are able to be creative in certain paths.
This book seems like it would only be suitable for certain areas of a creative course of study. This is one of the reasons why I rated it three out of five stars because in the wrong setting this book could be short and the need for another book for more coverage of creativity would be need. Would I recommend it? Possibly, considering what course it is being used for.
September 5, 2012
I found this on Amazon recently for a good price and decided to give it a shot. The premise sounded interesting, and the Introduction was well-written. However, the further along I got, the more frustrating the references became. As with another reviewer, the references are written all throughout the book not as footnotes, but as full citations. Because of this reason, I didn't finish Creativity 101. I was only able to get through a third of it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews