20 best creativity books. Following are the 20 best creativity books that every person should read to boost his/her creativity.
Creativity is intelligence having fun. – Albert Einstein
1. The Creative Habit –By Twyla Tharp
“Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won.”
― Twyla Tharp
All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career.
Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin.
2. Steal Like An Artist –By Austin Kleon
“If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.”
― Austin Kleon
An inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age, Steal Like an Artist presents ten transformative principles that will help readers discover their artistic side and build a more creative life.
Nothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path. Follow interests wherever they take you—what feels like a hobby may turn into you life’s work. Forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watch.
And finally, stay Smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring in the everyday world so that you have the space to be wild and daring in your imagination and your work.
3. Creativity, Inc. –By Ed Catmull
“Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share them with others. Show early and show often. It’ll be pretty when we get there, but it won’t be pretty along the way.”
― Ed Catmull
Creativity, Inc. is a manual for anyone who strives for originality and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about creativity—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.”
4. Manage Your Day to Day –By Jocelyn K. Glei
“Like it or not, we are constantly forced to juggle tasks and battle unwanted distractions- to truly set ourselves apart, we must learn to be creative amidst chaos.” ― Jocelyn K. Glei
The world has changed and the way we work has to change, too. With wisdom from 20 leading creative minds, Manage Your Day-to-Day will give you a toolkit for tackling the new challenges of a 24/7, always-on workplace.
5. The Artist’s Way –By Julia Cameron
“Leap, and the net will appear.” – Julia Cameron
Julia Cameron’s novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.
A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist’s Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for today’s creatives.
6. Contagious–By Jonah Berger
“Making things more observable makes them easier to imitate, which makes them more likely to become popular.”
―Jonah Berger
In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.
Contagious provides specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and content that people will share. Whether you’re a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.
7. Understanding Comics –By Scott McCloud
“Art, as I see it, is any human activity which doesn’t grow out of either of our species’ two basic instincts: survival and reproduction.”
― Scott McCloud
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the secret world between the panels, through the lines, and within the hidden symbols of a powerful but misunderstood art form.
8. Creative Confidence — By Tom Kelly and David Kelly
“Creative confidence is about believing in your ability to create change in the world around you.”
― Tom Kelley
Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the ‘creative types’. But two of the foremost experts in innovation, design and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative.
In an entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, and with many of the world’s top companies and design firms, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, allow us to think outside the box in terms of how we approach and solve problems.
‘Creative Confidence’ is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.
9. Imagine –By Jonah Lehrer
“We need to be willing to risk embarrassment, ask silly questions, surround ourselves with people who don’t know what we’re talking about. We need to leave behind the safety of our expertise.”
In Jonah Lehrer’s ambitious and enthralling book, we go in search of the epiphany. Shattering the myth of creative ‘types’, Lehrer shows how new research is deepening our understanding of the human imagination. Creativity is not a ‘gift’ that only some possess. It’s a term for a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Some acts of imagination are best done sipping espresso in a crowded cafe, while others require long walks in a quiet park.
10. Just Kids –By Patti Smith
“Everything distracted me, but most of all myself.”
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists’ ascent, a prelude to fame.
11. Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain — By Betty Edwards
“The greatest satisfaction comes from mastering something that is truly difficult.”
― Betty Edwards
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is the world’s most widely used instructional drawing book. Whether you are drawing as a professional artist, as an artist in training, or as a hobby, this book will give you greater confidence in your ability and deepen your artistic perception, as well as foster a new appreciation of the world around you.
12. Flow –By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
“Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and greatly improve the quality of our lives.
13. Bossypants –By Tina Fey
“Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.”
― Tina Fey
Spirited and whip-smart, these laugh-out-loud autobiographical essays are “a masterpiece” from the Emmy Award-winning actress and comedy writer known for 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and SNL” (Sunday Telegraph).
Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve always suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.
14. The War of Art — By Steven Pressfield
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”
― Steven Pressfield
The War of Art is a succinct, engaging, and practical guide for succeeding in any creative sphere. Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success. The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline.
Whether an artist, writer or business person, this simple, personal, and no-nonsense book will inspire you to seize the potential of your life.
15. My Stroke Of Insight –By Jill Bolte Taylor
“Most important, I had to be willing to try. The try is everything. The try is me saying to my brain, hey, I value this connection and I want it to happen. I may have to try, try, and try again with no results for a thousand times before I get even an inkling of a result, but if I don’t try, it may never happen. G.G.”
― Jill Bolte Taylor
16. Catching the Big Fish –By David Lynch
“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.”
― David Lynch
In this “unexpected delight,”* filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.
Catching the Big Fish provides a rare window into the internationally acclaimed filmmaker’s methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.
Catching the Big Fish comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch’s vision. And it is equally compelling to those who wonder how they can nurture their creativity.
17. Start with Why –By Simon Sinek
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”
― Simon Sinek
Why are some people and organizations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? Because in business it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it.
This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others, or to be inspired. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way — and it’s the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.
18. It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To be. –By Paul Arden
“Don’t be afraid of silly ideas.”
― Paul Arden
It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be is a handbook of how to succeed in the world – a pocket ‘bible’ for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. Paul Arden, offers up his wisdom on issues as diverse as problem solving, responding to a brief, communicating, playing your cards right, making mistakes and creativity, all notions that can be applied to aspects of modern life. This book provides a unique insight into the world of advertising and is a quirky compilation of quotes, facts, pictures, wit and wisdom, packed into easy-to-digest, bite-sized spreads. If you want to succeed in life or business, this is a must!
19. Damn Good Advice –By George Lois
“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”
― George Lois
Damn Good Advice (For People With Talent!) is a look into the mind of one of America’s most legendary creative thinkers, George Lois. Offering indispensle lessons, practical advice, facts, anecdotes and inspiration, this book is a timeless creative bible for all those looking to succeed in life, business and creativity.
Organised into inspirational, bite-sized pointers, each page offers fresh insight into the sources of success, from identifying your heroes to identifying yourself. The ideas, images and illustrations presented in this book are fresh, witty and in-your-face. Poignant, punchy and to-the-point, Damn Good Advice is a must-have for anyone on a quest for success.
20. The Writing Life –Annie Dillard
In this collection of short essays, Annie Dillard illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experience, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.
Thanks for reading, this was my list of 20 Best Creativity Books. Go ahead and read!
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