Reading Room: Imagine

Imagine
How Creativity Works
by Jonah Lehrer

So, what should you do when you are stumped by a difficult puzzle or trying to come up with a new approach to a problem at work? You probably just need to work harder or engage in an all-day brainstorming session, right?

Wrong.

Forget everything you were ever taught about feel-good brainstorming sessions or about trying to focus harder on solving the problem. These approaches don’t work and Jonah Lehrer has to the evidence to prove it.

Throw out the brainstorming rules that instruct participants to “play nicely” with each other. Rather, engage in no holds barred, brass knuckled, honest to goodness critiques and debates that both encourage and challenge ideas–because that is when you will get people really thinking and offering creative solutions to problems.

Or, just try taking a walk…because thanks to how we’re hardwired, insight tends to strike suddenly–after we’ve stopped looking.

This book is fun and completely worth the read if only to learn how Keith Richards woke up one morning to realize that he had written one of the most iconic rock and roll songs ever in his sleep.

Read this book…you’ll be glad you did.