In the book "Imagine: How Creativity Works," Jonah Lehrer, a journalist and the bestselling author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" and "How We Decide," explores the science behind human innovation. In each chapter, Lehrer investigates factors that foster or hinder creativity by illustrating examples in which imaginative people including Bob Dylan, the creator of Barbie and the inventor of the Post-it note have embarked on their creative processes.
Published in March, "Imagine" provides a comprehensive glimpse into the lives of creative people. The charmingly written anecdotes Lehrer includes demonstrate that creativity is not some vague, unattainable, inherited trait, gift or talent, but rather something that all humans have the capacity to hone more effectively.
The first part of Lehrer's book is titled "Alone" and deals with the ways individuals can cultivate their own inner creativity. In the first chapter, he describes how Dylan experienced his most creative songwriting period only after becoming disillusioned with his music and fame and moving to a cabin in Woodstock, N.Y.
Dylan's story exemplifies how creativity often emerges when we least expect it, according to Lehrer. He then goes on to detail how Dick Drew, a sandpaper salesman for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company or 3M, as we know it came up with the idea for masking tape while watching car mechanics inadvertently rip paint off of cars by using an adhesive that was too strong.
Many good ideas arise when we are simply doing nothing, Lehrer said. Although Lehrer delves into some of the most confounding intellectual questions of our time, he does so in a lighthearted and accessible way. Throughout the book, he details many other entertaining anecdotes about creative processes. For instance, he describes how a housewife named Ruth Handler came up with the idea for the Barbie doll after seeing a curvaceous blonde doll an erotic toy for men in the window of a cigarette store in Germany. Travel is crucial for gaining a new perspective and cultivating the creative mind, Lehrer said.
The second part of Lehrer's book describes several instances in which group creativity has blossomed in the Pixar studio where Steve Jobs insisted one, central bathroom be built in a large atrium to encourage employee interaction and the sharing of ideas and in Elizabethan England, which fostered minds such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, John Donne and Francis Bacon. Through examples like these, Lehrer's book emphasizes the power of community and collaboration in nurturing creativity.
Lehrer does not simply present a cocktail party catalogue of delightful anecdotes about how amazing people came up with groundbreaking ideas, however he also views these instances through a scientific lens. Lehrer showcases both his scientific chops and writing prowess when he articulates the neuroscience behind imagination.
In his description of Drew's tape invention, for instance, Lehrer discusses how insight arises from the eruption of gamma waves in the right hemisphere of the brain. In his portrayal of the drug addictions of avant-garde writers and artists, Lehrer shows how addiction actually helped them focus by helping prefrontal neurons fire in the brain. In his depiction of jazz musicians, Lehrer cites functional magnetic resonance imaging in which researchers found that when jazz players improvise music, there is a shift in the brain circuit connected to impulse control. There is a physiological process that occurs when we release our inhibitions and let go, according to Lehrer.
The major strength of Lehrer's work lies in his successful efforts to demystify the vague concepts associated with creativity, explaining that "insights," "epiphanies" and "light bulb moments" are not random and impossible, but rather logically resultant from neurological processes and attainable through a variety of means.
Lehrer ends his book with an examination of the relationship of creativity to our culture as a whole. He explains how creativity is often undermined in our culture, which tends to praise athletes over artists. He advocates for the creation of more arts and sciences opportunities for children, a reform of the patent system and investment in urban spaces that promote creative communities. If "we encourage young inventors with the same fervor that we encourage young football stars," we can create a culture that values and encourages creativity, he said.
Although much of Lehrer's book focuses on de-romanticizing the notion of "creativity," at the end of the book, he concedes, "There will always be something slightly miraculous about the imagination." He argues, however, that "this sense of magic shouldn't prevent us from trying to become more creative."
"Imagine: How Creativity Works" is an enjoyable and refreshingly insightful examination of creativity, and it reflects the importance of developing a society that celebrates it.
