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a visual way to explore the brain pickings book archive :: otlet's shelf theme :: back to brain pickings

CREATIVITY :: DESIGN :: SCIENCE :: HISTORY :: PSYCHOLOGY :: ART

creativity

  1. The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion Elle Luna “Should is how other people want us to live our lives… Choosing Must is the greatest thing we can do with our lives.” How to navigate the crossroads of Should and Must with courage for a creatively fulfilling life:

    The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion

    Elle Luna

    “Should is how other people want us to live our lives… Choosing Must is the greatest thing we can do with our lives.”

    How to navigate the crossroads of Should and Must with courage for a creatively fulfilling life:
  2. Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and InventionMihaly Csikszentmihalyi “It’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention.” Pulitzer-winning poet and beautiful soul Mark Strand on creativity and the artist’s task of bearing witness to the universe:

    Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention

    Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    “It’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention.”

    Pulitzer-winning poet and beautiful soul Mark Strand on creativity and the artist’s task of bearing witness to the universe:
  3. Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music Glenn Kurtz “Limitation is the condition of our lives. What matters — what allows us to reach beyond ourselves, as we are, and push at the boundaries of our ability — is that we continue. But then everything depends on how we practice, what we practice.” A classical musician on how to overcome impostor syndrome through the pleasures of practicing – the most creatively emboldening thing I’ve read in ages:

    Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music

    Glenn Kurtz

    “Limitation is the condition of our lives. What matters — what allows us to reach beyond ourselves, as we are, and push at the boundaries of our ability — is that we continue. But then everything depends on how we practice, what we practice.”

    A classical musician on how to overcome impostor syndrome through the pleasures of practicing – the most creatively emboldening thing I’ve read in ages:
  4. The 14 Best Books of 2014 The definitive reading list of the 14 best books of 2014 overall:

    The 14 Best Books of 2014

    The definitive reading list of the 14 best books of 2014 overall:
  5. Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi “Terrible things happen. And those are the things that we learn from… The amazing thing is that despite all… the human spirit still manages to survive, to stay strong.” Madeleine L’Engle on creativity, how to get unstuck, and the hope of the human spirit – magnificent vintage interview:

    Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention

    Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    “Terrible things happen. And those are the things that we learn from… The amazing thing is that despite all… the human spirit still manages to survive, to stay strong.”

    Madeleine L’Engle on creativity, how to get unstuck, and the hope of the human spirit – magnificent vintage interview:
  6. Georgia O’Keeffe: Art and Letters Jack Cowart “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant—there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing—and keeping the unknown always beyond you…” Georgia O’Keeffe’s superb letter to Sherwood Anderson on what it really means to be an artist:

    Georgia O’Keeffe: Art and Letters

    Jack Cowart

    “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant—there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing—and keeping the unknown always beyond you…”

    Georgia O’Keeffe’s superb letter to Sherwood Anderson on what it really means to be an artist:
  7. Joys and Sorrows Albert E. Kahn Iconic cellist Pau Casals, at age 93, on how working with love prolongs your life:

    Joys and Sorrows

    Albert E. Kahn

    Iconic cellist Pau Casals, at age 93, on how working with love prolongs your life:
  8. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor Lynda Barry “I wasn’t quite 20 years old when I started my first notebook. I had no idea that nearly 40 years later, I would not only still be using it as the most reliable route to the thing I’ve come to call my work, but I’d also be showing others how to use it too, as a place to practice a physical activity — in this case writing and drawing by hand — with a certain state of mind. This practice can result in … a wonderful side effect: a visual or written image we can call “a work of art”; although a work of art is not what I’m after when I’m practicing this activity. What am I after? I’m after what Marilyn Frasca called “being present and seeing what’s there.”” Lynda Barry’s Syllabus – an illustrated field guide to keeping a visual diary for creativity:

    Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor

    Lynda Barry

    “I wasn’t quite 20 years old when I started my first notebook. I had no idea that nearly 40 years later, I would not only still be using it as the most reliable route to the thing I’ve come to call my work, but I’d also be showing others how to use it too, as a place to practice a physical activity — in this case writing and drawing by hand — with a certain state of mind.

    This practice can result in … a wonderful side effect: a visual or written image we can call “a work of art”; although a work of art is not what I’m after when I’m practicing this activity.

    What am I after? I’m after what Marilyn Frasca called “being present and seeing what’s there.””

    Lynda Barry’s Syllabus – an illustrated field guide to keeping a visual diary for creativity:
  9. Ever Yours: The Essential Letters Vincent van Gogh “Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.” How Van Gogh found his purpose—his heartfelt letters to his brother on how loving relationships center us as we flounder:

    Ever Yours: The Essential Letters

    Vincent van Gogh

    “Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.”

    How Van Gogh found his purpose—his heartfelt letters to his brother on how loving relationships center us as we flounder:
  10. A Muse and a Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery, and Magic Peter Turchi “The books that give us the most pleasure, the deepest pleasure, combine uncertainty and satisfaction, tension and release.” The psychology of flow—what game design reveals about the deliberate tensions of great writing:

    A Muse and a Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery, and Magic

    Peter Turchi

    “The books that give us the most pleasure, the deepest pleasure, combine uncertainty and satisfaction, tension and release.”

    The psychology of flow—what game design reveals about the deliberate tensions of great writing:
  11. Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy Eric G. Wilson In praise of melancholy and how it enriches our capacity for creativity:

    Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy

    Eric G. Wilson

    In praise of melancholy and how it enriches our capacity for creativity:
  12. The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help Amanda Palmer “You’re an artist when you say you are. And you’re a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected.” My conversation with kindred spirit Amanda Palmer on the art of asking and what Thoreau teaches us about accepting love:

    The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

    Amanda Palmer

    “You’re an artist when you say you are. And you’re a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected.”

    My conversation with kindred spirit Amanda Palmer on the art of asking and what Thoreau teaches us about accepting love:
  13. The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt Lamothe The Most Generous Book in the World – a heartening illustrated homage to the wives, mothers, brothers, benefactors, and other quiet champions behind some of history’s most celebrated creative geniuses: George Washington’s dentist, Alan Turing’s teenage crush, Emily Dickinson’s dog, Alfred Hitchcock’s wife, Roald Dahl’s mother, and more.

    The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History

    Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt Lamothe

    The Most Generous Book in the World – a heartening illustrated homage to the wives, mothers, brothers, benefactors, and other quiet champions behind some of history’s most celebrated creative geniuses: George Washington’s dentist, Alan Turing’s teenage crush, Emily Dickinson’s dog, Alfred Hitchcock’s wife, Roald Dahl’s mother, and more.
  14. The Portable Jack Kerouac Jack Kerouac “Genius gives birth, talent delivers.” Jack Kerouac on whether writers are born or made and the crucial difference between genius and talent, applicable to all creative fields:

    The Portable Jack Kerouac

    Jack Kerouac

    “Genius gives birth, talent delivers.”

    Jack Kerouac on whether writers are born or made and the crucial difference between genius and talent, applicable to all creative fields:
  15. The Creative Experience - Why and How Do We Create? Stanley. Abt, Lawrence E. Rosner “The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.” Legendary composer Aaron Copland on the conditions of creativity and the essential interplay of emotion and intellect in the creative experience:

    The Creative Experience - Why and How Do We Create?

    Stanley. Abt, Lawrence E. Rosner

    “The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.”

    Legendary composer Aaron Copland on the conditions of creativity and the essential interplay of emotion and intellect in the creative experience:
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