The best creativity books recommended by Seth Godin.
You could watch the most non-creative, linear-thinking, do-it-by-the-book cop work to solve a crime and you’d be amazed at how creative her solutions seem to be. Creative for you, because you’ve never been in that territory before, it’s all new, it’s all at the edges. Boring for her, because it’s the same thing she does every time. It’s not creative at all.
For me, creativity is the stuff you do at the edges. But the edges are different for everyone, and the edges change over time. If you visualize the territory you work in as an old Boston Bruins sweatshirt, realize that over time, it stretches out, it gets looser, the edges move away. Stuff that would have been creative last year isn’t creative at all today, because it’s not near the edges any more.
This gives you two useful tactics for problem solving:
1) If you want to be creative, understand that you’ll need to get to the edges, even if the edges have moved. Being creative means immediately going to the place the last person left off.
2) If you are “not creative,” if you are the sort of person that gets uncomfortable being creative or has been persuaded you’re not capable, don’t worry about it. Just stretch the sweatshirt in your spare time, watch the creative things other people have done, keep up with the state of the art. Then, when you do your “not creative” thing, most people will think it’s pretty creative indeed.
Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
"Book recommendations - Marie Forleo, who speaks clearly and with kindness, has her new book coming out in September." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonStart Finishing by Charlie Gillkey
"Charlie Gillkey has an important new book out" Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonThe Heart to Start by David Kadavy
"The Heart to Start is solid advice from David Kadavy. It’s not too late." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonImpro by Keith Johnstone
"What would happen if the next all hands meeting got cancelled and instead the organization had an all hands-on read instead?
Category: Creativity
Here are more than twenty books you might want to read at work today. You and ten co-workers reading together... it might change everything" Read more
Buy on AmazonV Is For Vulnerable by Seth Godin
"A short, illustrated, kids-like book that takes the last chapter of Icarus and turns it into something worth sharing." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonThe War of Art by Steven Pressfield
"Steve Pressfield has written the most important book I've ever read on creativity and why it doesn't happen. The resistance is the most profound force in the life of the artist, the writer and the leader, and Steve has given it a name and called it out." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonThe Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
"Richard has been in the forefront of doing scholarly work on how the workers who do own the means of production are changing our economy. Their decisionsÑfrom where they live to what they doÑchange the art created in our system and thus our lives as well." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonThe Gift by Lewis Hyde
"Deep, astonishingly well researched and mindblowing. An exploration of one of the most basic (and least understood) human traits--our ability to create and share gifts." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonThe Art of the Idea by John Hunt
"John takes you on a word/picture journey that might, just might, change the way you think about ideas. It worked on me." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonSteal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
"Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonDo the Work by Steven Pressfield
"If you don't have time, this calls your bluff. Less than a hundred pages, no holds barred. Time to get to it." Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonA Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger Van Oeck
"On Overcoming Resistance and Getting Creative" Read more
Category: Creativity
Buy on AmazonArt is Work by Milton Glaser
"Milton Glaser does the work. Loudly and with pride and generosity, he has long led the way in thinking about the work and why it matters. This is mostly a portfolio, but the writing here will make you think." Read more
Category: Creativity
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