Fans pick 100 books like Re-Visioning Psychology

Nancy Lemann is one of the treasures of contemporary American literature and I re-read many passages in this book out loud to my wife, out of amusement and as a sort of personal honorific. Honestly, I found myself reading much of this book out loud, even alone, as does the Southern lilt of her writing punch through the page.

But that merely surprised me. The story is engrossing on both levels–micro/macro in the common parlance. A lot of writers drop hints about how to do what they are doing right into the text of their work. Tolstoy, for one, is very clear about this if we’re paying attention–specifically in Anna Karenina. There’s plenty of that here. Also see her recent story published in the Paris Review. It’s like a green book for great writing.

So, first things first with this list of recommendations to unlock your creativity: you got to get yourself out of the way. There’s no better way to do this than acquainting yourself with Sufism, even on an introductory level.

I am very close friends with the pre-eminent American translator of the 13th-century Sufi poet Jalal al-Dīn Rumi, and it still took me many years to get to this book. Maybe everything happens at the right time, but you still need to settle with yourself to get any ball rolling, especially the powerful tool of your own creativity–the only medicine, the single refuge. 

So, after the first things, you need some actual instruction, and the great Russian filmmaker lays it all out here. The book is his memoir about filmmaking, but it’s really about art making, written as large or small as you can imagine. I wrote a review by request a few years ago.

Allow the tools he discusses here to free you from the oppression of lazy filmmaking, as well as your own timidity and fear. It works. Ask me how I know.

Know your audience? I’m kidding—never condescend; there’s nothing to be gained. Leave the smug cleverness to the Gladwells and Pinkers; we’re seeking higher ground here. What is culture? Don’t act like you don’t want to talk about it – or the stakes. This is THE TALK we actually need to have.

We have an affinity for our own habits, and Bourdieu walks us through them using the socially innocent language of likes and dislikes. His is a very straightforward discussion of experiences and social conditions that you didn’t know you needed. How do tastes vary, and why? Hmmmm.

This book is a compilation of chapters written by (mostly) psychology professors who have dealt with creativity extensively throughout their careers, and I highly recommend it. The topics cover psychometric approaches to creativity, experimental studies in creativity, the history of creativity, biological bases of creativity, the development of creativity, relationships between creativity and intelligence, the types of motivation necessary to produce creative outputs, cultural aspects of creativity, computer modeling in creativity, the development of prodigies, and significant research into creative processes. I gained valuable insights into domains and areas that I never would have considered otherwise.

This amazing book draws on nearly one hundred interviews with creative people in every field and thirty years of research on the subject of creativity. There are multiple stories from musicians and composers while Csikszentmihalyi abstracts the common characteristics of the creative process that transcends the arts, science, architecture, and technology. He studies personalities, family backgrounds, and the environments that inspire the creative process. We learn to accept that many uniquely creative people have channeled their contributions by focusing their energy through unique structures that include conflicts, disease, handicap, stress, poverty, and emotional instability. The 426 pages of research and interviews are captivating, informative, and insightful and can inspire creative expression from new sources of understanding. 

This is one of only a few books I’ve found that looks directly at the way writers can use dream awareness in their creative practice. It’s a collection of interviews with twenty-six well-known authors compiled by dream researcher and radio-show host Naomi Epel, in which they talk about specific dreams that have inspired them and their thoughts about dreaming in general. I bought a copy to dip into on the train to London for a meeting but found it so fascinating, I abandoned my plan to do some sightseeing afterward, and made instead for the nearest bench and takeaway coffee, to spend the afternoon reading.

This book is perfect for anyone who likes to see research that supports what they believe. There’s science behind the study of creativity and Wired to Create does an excellent job explaining it. Based on psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman’s groundbreaking research, this book offers a glimpse inside the “messy minds” of highly creative people. Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire study the latest findings of neuroscience and psychology, and the practices of well-known “creatives,” concluding that we are all, in some way, wired for creating, and everyday life presents endless opportunities to express that.

This book demonstrates that anyone can be creative, regardless of their background, profession, or society’s definition of a creative person.

Even though the examples in the book are largely artists’ stories, Brito presents them in a way that I can apply to my career. The book inspires me to explore new ways of thinking and problem-solving. What resonated with me the most were the examples of artists who faced setbacks but transformed their approaches, ultimately achieving success.

The book also delves into the stories of well-known entrepreneurs who pivoted, providing me with inspiration for sticking with an entrepreneurial project when it gets challenging.

This book will capture your imagination and dazzle your senses with deep scholarship.

Deep exploration of creative outputs at their maximum states, the state of “flow”, condensing Csikszentmihalyi’s thirty years of research and nearly one hundred interviews with exceptionally creative people, spanning science, business, and art, in all of their dimensions. Creativity in art, technology, and science, perceived by many as being different types of creativity, revealed, at its core, to be the same.