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Title: Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People by Robert S. Root-Bernstein, Michele M. Root-Bernstein ISBN: 0-618-12745-3 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 09 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant; Outstanding; Better than 5-star book
Comment: It is such a pleasure to write a review of a book of this caliber. I don't have to balance what is good with what is not so good, because "Sparks of Genius" is an excellent, superb book, from start to finish. I would have only one small addition to one of the chapters, which I will mention below.
I think that "Sparks of Genius" is the first book I have ever read on the subject of how to develop genius, but I cannot imagine a better complilation of what it takes to foster and inspire genius and creativity in people. The main reason for this is that the authors base their material on how creative people in the arts, sciences, etc., acquire and develop their skills, and every chapter except the last one (appropriately) are full of firsthand examples from people of genius and creativity in (almost!) all walks of life. Yet the authors themselves exhibit their own kind of genius in organizing the material, writing chapter after chapter with genuine vision and clarity, and most importantly, after intellectually explaining "sparks" such as observing, imaging, analyzing, and empathizing, give specific, generally uncomplicated, exercises on how to develop these skills.
Throughout the book the authors demonstrate that people in very diverse walks of life exhibit the same "sparks of genius" in their work, which I find quite inspiring in itself. In this way they themselves exemplify the value of "synthesis," perhaps the key that links all the methods they depict.
The book is a call to "rethink thinking," to teach cross-discipline learning, and I feel that the methods discussed in the book, and then discussed specifically in the context of education in the final chapter, would be invaluable as educational tools. I believe that if children's education could be fostered along the lines of these tools of creative genius, if children could be taught to use their own internal resources instead of relying on the obvious external garbage such as TV and video games, the improvement to society would be tremendous.
My favorite chapter in the book is called "Empathizing," where the authors discuss what artists and scientists do to go inside of whomever or whatever they are portraying (actors), drawing (artists), treating (physicians), as well as other real-life examples.
My only small addition to "Sparks of Genius" would be in the penultimate chapter, called "Synthesizing," some mention of the "gestalt" in experiencing the whole in music, art, etc. I liked this term from personal experience and from books on gestalt therapy that came out some time ago, and it's a very intuitive concept that fits in well with the chapter's discussion.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
Rating: 5
Summary: Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein's Sparks of Genius
Comment: The review by Kirkus Associates is excellent, and many of the other reviews are very good. The 13 thinking tools of the world's most creative people, according to the authors, are abstracting, analogizing, body thinking (body images), dimensional thinking, empathizing (feeling empathy with objects, processes, others), forming patterns, imaging (thinking of things by using mental images of them, whether realistic or "distorted"), modeling, observing, playing, recognizing patterns, synthesizing (combining, etc.), transforming. The study of genius as an "extreme" of knowledge discovery is long past its due in education from elementary through university, and has many clues for improving education. Geniuses not only cross fields from science through art, but tend to be interdisciplinary, appear to be well grounded both in basics and intuition/thinking/mental processes, and use imagery (by the way, using imagery is taught by a number of cognitive psychologists and psychoanalysts for mental health as well). Robert Bernstein's physiology background helps him unlock some of the physiological processes of genius, and Michele's historical background helps trace back the characteristics of pre-modern geniuses. There is probably much more to the story, but this book is an excellent start.
Rating: 1
Summary: weak
Comment: Skip this book in favor of spending time inventing YOUR OWN genius. If you think this is a manual for becoming smart, forget it. The gifts are doled out at birth and the best we can hope to do is make the most of what we have.
Besides, 'genius' only means 'spirit'. The geniuses of the world are spirited people. Look inside to find that, not in the pages of this book.
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Title: The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention of Art by Brewster Ghiselin ISBN: 0520054539 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ISBN: 0060928204 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Creators on Creating: Awakening and Cultivating the Imaginative Mind (New Consciousness Reader) by Frank X. Barron, Alfonso Montuori, Anthea Barron ISBN: 0874778549 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences : Honoring Human Experience by Rosemarie Anderson, William Braud ISBN: 0761910131 Publisher: Sage Publications Pub. Date: 29 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $41.95 |
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Title: Transpersonal Knowing: Exploring the Horizon of Consciousness by Tobin Hart, Peter L. Nelson, Kaisa Puhakka ISBN: 0791446166 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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