Creativity
Creativity is about capturing those moments that make life worth living. The author's objective is to offer an understanding of what leads to these moments, be it the excitement of the artist at the easel or the scientist in the lab, so that knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. Drawing on 100 interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders, poets and artists, as well as his 30 years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous theory to explore the creative process. He discusses such ideas as why creative individuals are often seen as selfish and arrogant, and why the tortured genius is largely a myth. Most important, he clearly explains why creativity needs to be cultivated and is necessary for the future of our country, if not the world.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
15mentions
13people
2007–2022years
53% recommend47% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I dislike this. I almost hate it, but it at least raises interesting questions.
The reasoning is almost entirely post-hoc. He observes many successful people and their similarities and then claims "I have now told you how to succeed." p(success | trait) != p(trait | success). Hindsight bias is at play.
He makes other weird statements: "you are automatically condemned to waste the rest of your life (see Einstein above)." Mr. Hamming is a difficult guy to please.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi studied many successful individuals in a systematic way and acknowledged the inherent problems with this approach. Read his book instead of this: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Flow-Psychology-Discovery-...
Finally: "Those who have done really great things generally report, privately, that it is better than wine, the opposite sex, and song put together."
This is strongly contradicted by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's evidence. Nearly everyone he talked to (many Nobel Laureates among them) said their greatest achievement was raising a family or something in personal life. I can't claim this generalizes, but I can provide it as a stark counterexample to Hamming's claim.
- I would suggest Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [1]
I have not read the book yet but it is on my reading list. I'm currently going through "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" [2] by the same author and it is illuminating to see the author examine a simple process such as enjoying a walk and reveal the intricate interplay of our consciousness, attention and self.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Psychology-Discovery-Mihaly...
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csik...
- A more in-depth exploration of the topic is in Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Flow-Psychology-Discovery-I...
- His other book, Creativity, is far more relevant to HN. It is a set of interviews with creative people, exploring how their creative capacities developed.
http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Flow-Psychology-Discovery-I...
- His book Creativity is also excellent, particularly for entrepreneurs. http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Flow-Psychology-Discovery-I...
- Enjoy this phase! Idea generation can be a lot of fun. Get some books to stimulate. I've gotten a lot of mileage from "A Whack On The Side Of The Head" and "Creativity" (Csikszentmihalyi). Watch some TED talks. Go to your local unconferences and meet people and see what they're working on. Team up on those connections.
Share your ideas as they come. Record everything that comes to mind. Get feedback. Iterate.
Meanwhile, you can be educating yourself on the business side of things: starting a business, people/listening skills, presenting, marketing, etc. You're already here; that's a pretty good start. But books like "The Art Of The Start", "Founders At Work", and the Seth Godin variety are worth their weight in gold.
