The Creative Spark PDF Download

Author: Agustín Fuentes
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101983957
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A bold new synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself, answering an age-old question: What made humans so exceptional among all the species on Earth? Creativity. It is the secret of what makes humans special, hiding in plain sight. Agustín Fuentes argues that your child's finger painting comes essentially from the same place as creativity in hunting and gathering millions of years ago, and throughout history in making war and peace, in intimate relationships, in shaping the planet, in our communities, and in all of art, religion, and even science. It requires imagination and collaboration. Every poet has her muse; every engineer, an architect; every politician, a constituency. The manner of the collaborations varies widely, but successful collaboration is inseparable from imagination, and it brought us everything from knives and hot meals to iPhones and interstellar spacecraft. Weaving fascinating stories of our ancient ancestors' creativity, Fuentes finds the patterns that match modern behavior in humans and animals. This key quality has propelled the evolutionary development of our bodies, minds, and cultures, both for good and for bad. It's not the drive to reproduce; nor competition for mates, or resources, or power; nor our propensity for caring for one another that have separated us out from all other creatures. As Fuentes concludes, to make something lasting and useful today you need to understand the nature of your collaboration with others, what imagination can and can't accomplish, and, finally, just how completely our creativity is responsible for the world we live in. Agustín Fuentes's resounding multimillion-year perspective will inspire readers—and spark all kinds of creativity.

Author: Jim Krause
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440322813
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
How creative can you be? You don't turn off the creative juices when you punch out for the day. That's because, for you, creativity is more than just a job - it's a passion. Even so, everyone needs a boost now and then. Creative Sparks shows you how to ignite your design ingenuity 24/7. Jim Krause provides the friction with 150+ mind-bending concepts, images and exercises that will help you: Maximize your professional success Find new sources of inspiration and encouragement Make your time at work more productive Uncover the secrets of creative fulfillment Bottom line: Creative Sparks will have an explosive impact on your designs - and your life.

Author: William Duggan
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231142692
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Duggan shows how strategic intuition lies at the heart of humanity's greatest achievements: the scientific and computer revolutions, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement, modern art and much more.

Author: Michael Shapiro
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
ISBN: 9781609521769
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Knowledgeable, probing, and thoughtful." --Foreword Reviews Smokey Robinson - Barbara Kingsolver - Francis Ford Coppola - David Sedaris - Jane Goodall and other luminaries reveal the secrets to their creative success. Amy Tan talks about how she finds truth by writing fiction. Melissa Etheridge tells us how she channels her fire into her music. Pico Iyer shares how seeking stillness enhances his creativity. And Coppola discusses how he found the courage to make groundbreaking films. In The Creative Spark, a collection of interviews prefaced by brief biographies, these luminaries join dozens of other voices to create a symphony of inspiration. Lucinda Williams talks about honesty and making every word count; Jane Goodall cites the value of persistence and believing in yourself; and Smokey Robinson heralds the timeless power of love songs. For more than a decade, award-winning author Michael Shapiro (A Sense of Place) has interviewed many of our brightest creators. In The Creative Spark, musicians, authors, explorers, and chefs speak about what drives them, what helps them see the world in fresh ways, and what inspires them to turn their visions into art. Shapiro's work as a music journalist has led to interviews with legends including Graham Nash, Lyle Lovett, Melissa Etheridge, Jake Shimabukuro, Merle Haggard, and Jethro Tull bandleader Ian Anderson. And he's spoken with creative masters in other fields, such as comedian Joan Rivers and author Frances Mayes. Yet it's not simply that Shapiro has had access to so many supremely talented people--it's that he gets them to go deep. Moments into his penetrating conversation with Lucinda (her fans call her by her first name), she tells Shapiro about how decisions made about her mother's funeral led to fissures in her family. From this achingly personal conversation, readers can glean fresh insights into why Lucinda has such a devoted following and why her songs open listeners' hearts. Unexpected revelations pop up in every chapter of The Creative Spark. Iowa folksinger Greg Brown isn't a household name, but his fellow musicians revere his poetic compositions. Then there's San Francisco Giants announcer Mike Krukow, who turns every broadcast into a work of art. Chefs, including SingleThread's Kyle Connaughton, discuss how they're transforming the way we approach fine dining and why social responsibility is essential. Each chapter starts with a short biography of the creative person being profiled, then segues into Q+A. This collection brings together some of the best-known artists of our time with others who may not be as famed but who have valuable insights about living an artful life. The Creative Spark stands as a testament to human achievement, showing how creativity illuminates our world. And how it resides in each and every one of us, just waiting to break out.

Author: Carrie Bloomston
Publisher: Stash Books
ISBN: 9781607059608
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Ignite that inner fire with the 30 engaging exercises, fun activities, inspirational images, and motivating ideas in this book. Learn what your Little Spark of creative passion looks like, how to capture it, and how to make room for it in your life. Use this guide as a month-long creative roadmap, or just dip into the exercises as your time and inclination allow. Either way, you will change your life.

Author: Lisa Magnum
Publisher: WordFire +ORM
ISBN: 1680571753
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Creativity comes from many places, but often the initial spark of inspiration can be traced to something or someone who challenged us to first put pen to paper or brush to canvas, to pick up a camera, to look at the world with new eyes. Maybe it was the lyrics of a favorite album. Maybe it was the encouragement from a beloved teacher. Maybe it was seeing a wonder of the natural world. Maybe it was just a feeling deep down inside that demanded to be set free, a voice ready to be heard, a story begging to be told. Hold Your Fire is a collection of nineteen short stories celebrating the power and influence of inspiration in all its forms—art, literature, music, astronomy, science, inventions, epiphanies.Here you will find stories of people being inspired as well as stories of people inspiring someone else. Stories not only of artistic inspiration but of scientific discoveries. The “Eureka!” moments that change the whole world and the small moments when someone dares to fight one more day. From a romance about a teenager’s attempts to win over his first crush with poetry to musicians and artists harnessing the inspiration of unexpected muses to a fairy tale princess seeking for happiness, every story in this anthology shines brightly. And since every fire casts a shadow, there are also a few horror stories that thrive in the dark. Hold Your Fire: Stories Celebrating the Creative Spark is the sixth anthology edited by Lisa Mangum and published by WordFire Press in support of the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship fund for the Superstars Writing Seminars.

Author: Erik Wahl
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399564225
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
We’ve been conditioned to think about creative genius as a dichotomy: dreamers versus doers, creativity versus discipline, the spark versus the grind. But what if we’re wrong? What if it’s the spark and the grind? We love people whose creative genius arrives in sudden sparks of inspiration. Think of Archimedes in his bathtub or Newton under his apple tree. But we also admire people who work incredibly hard and long for their creative breakthroughs. Think of Edison in his lab, grinding through hundreds of failed variations on the lightbulb. We remember his words in tough times: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” Now Erik Wahl, a visual artist, speaker, and entre­preneur, helps us unite the yin and yang of creativity— the dynamic new ideas with the dogged effort. He shows why we won’t get far if we rely on the spark without the grind, or the grind without the spark. What the world really needs are the creators who can hold the two in balance. Fortunately, it’s possible to get good at both, as Wahl knows from experience. After his corporate career sud­denly ended, he pursued a spark—to paint photorealistic portraits—and ground it out until he got good enough to make very good art very quickly. That’s the basis of his riveting live shows, which have captivated skeptical audiences who never expected to be inspired by art—and taught them to embrace creativity in a whole new way. This book offers surprising insights and practical advice about how to fan the sparks and make the grind more productive. Wahl deftly synthesizes the wisdom of other artists, philosophers, scientists, and business visionaries throughout history, along with his own views. Here’s how he sums up his approach: The world needs people who enjoy swimming in ideas until they discover a great one. The world also needs doers who have a gift for activation, a.k.a. “getting s*** done.” But the most potent individual creators in any industry or environment have learned how to be both. They’ve learned how to spark their grind and they’ve learned how to grind their sparks. As a result, they not only make things happen, they make great things. If you want to ensure constant creativity in your life and produce your most innovative work—this is your guide.

Author: Andrew Pek
Publisher: Stimulated!
ISBN: 1929774508
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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Book Description
With the pace of competition, innovation, and change in today's world, creativity isn't a luxury -- it is a survival skill. But even the most creative people can end up stuck, stressed out, and stale, worn down by the daily grind. "Stimulated!" is an energetic exploration of five habits that can help you release your creativity and expand your innovative thinking. The method is playful, fun, enriching, and mind-expanding, but most important, it's a step-by-step process for getting unstuck. With this book you learn: how to draw inspiration and fresh insights from the world around you; how to make the most of your surroundings and develop an environment that will get the creative juices flowing; how to turn work into play; how to take the leap of faith and commit to big, bold ideas; and how to reap the benefits of your success and failures to contribute to the next creative effort.

Author: Robert Root-Bernstein
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547525893
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
Discover the cognitive tools that lead to creative thinking and problem-solving with this “well-written and easy-to-follow” guide (Library Journal). Explore the “thinking tools” of extraordinary people, from Albert Einstein and Jane Goodall to Mozart and Virginia Woolf, and learn how you can practice the same imaginative skills to become your creative best. With engaging narratives and examples, Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein investigate cognitive tools such as observing, recognizing patterns, modeling, playing, and more. Sparks of Genius is “a clever, detailed and demanding fitness program for the creative mind” and a groundbreaking guidebook for anyone interested in imaginative thinking, lifelong learning, and transdisciplinary education (Kirkus Reviews). “How different the painter at the easel and the physicist in the laboratory! Yet the Root-Bernsteins recognize the deep-down similarity of all creative thinking, whether in art or science. They demonstrate this similarity by comparing the accounts that various pioneers and inventors have left of their own creative processes: for Picasso just as for Einstein, for Klee just as for Feynman, the creative impulse always begins in vision, in emotion, in intuition. . . . With a lavishly illustrated chapter devoted to each tool, readers quickly realize just how far the imagination can stretch.” —Booklist “A powerful book . . . Sparks of Genius presents radically different ways of approaching problems.” —American Scientist

Author: Richard Garriott
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062286676
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
An inventor, adventurer, entrepreneur, collector, and entertainer, and son of legendary scientist-astronaut Owen Garriott, Richard Garriott de Cayeux has been behind some of the most exciting undertakings of our time. A legendary pioneer of the online gaming industry—and a member of every gaming Hall of Fame—Garriott invented the multi-player online game, and coined the term “Avatar” to describe an individual’s online character. A lifelong adventurer and member of the Explorers Club, Garriott has used the fortune he amassed from the gaming business to embark on a number of thrilling expeditions. He has plumbed the depths of the Atlantic ocean to see the remains of the Titanic, hunted for meteorites in Antarctica, and in 2008 became one of the first private citizens to be launched into space. Richard has been one of the foremost pioneers of the private space industry, investing his time and energy into making space travel more accessible. In this fascinating memoir, Garriott invites readers on the great adventure that is his life. Yet his is no ordinary autobiography; throughout, Garriott engages readers with interactive activities and challenges them with “secret codes” for his games. An audacious genius with an insatiable curiosity and an irrepressible playfulness, Garriott takes readers on an unforgettable intellectual experience that is enlightening, adventurous, and fun.