REPORT/REVIEW OF "ART OF CREATIVE THINKING" by John Adair
My steemit, oh my beautiful loving steemit. How I have missed you so much😭. I can't remember when last I uploaded a smart phone photograph. I am coming back stronger though.
Am a photographer, yes. I don't have a camera, no I don't. But I don't want to make this place like this. So, book reviews is what I'd be doing till when the miracle happens.
So I was supposed to write this review for the book art of creative thinking” on Monday but I guess it'd be submerged by the exciting new development from the show {GOT}, so I decided I'd write my review or report, which ever soothes you readers.
So basically, this is a short review or report ones again of the book "the art of creative thinking by John Adair". I actually haven't finished the book anyways, but I promised to write this and I guess I need to rearrange my thoughts and head to fit in one book every week, sounds monumental but viable. I stopped at chapter ten when I got brain freeze, lol, and the book got 21 whole chapters, exciting chapters anyways. Without further ado, let's dive in.
To a large extent this book has been one of the best books I have read, it has been life changing for me and what caught me most was that I started to practice the principles there in and I wasn't even aware and to top it up, it was a fun experience. John starts with the very importance of creativity, been able to think creatively. It's important we think critically and rationally and try to device a means to solving a problem through not just the regular or routine means but through various means.
When we see something we haven't seen before, what our brain does is to first relate what it has seen with what already exist, that's creative thinking, that's fun. I enjoyed how John explained the importance of thinking by analogy, trying to bring semblance from what we know to what weve just seen or discovered. Creativity lies not in discovering new stuffs but in rediscovering old stuffs. Make the familiar strange and the strange familiar he says. When we see what we already know that familiarity with it limits us and affects us from discovering something we haven't before from what we have already seen. For example : When you see your pen, your own you have used for quite some time and you feel it's just a pen, when you make that familiar strange and start to look at it as though you just discovered it I assure you, you'd find what you have not, not just pen anyways, hahaha, there is a wide range of stuff that you literally live with every day and could question and discover their other hidden purpose, enjoy. Making the strange familiar is even more fun, you try to use the association mode of learning, that beautiful thing we did while we were young to help us remember stuffs. John used a beautiful illustration to buttress and further elaborate his point. Thus goes - "this plane flew through the sky, right over this village and this folks knew not what it was, you know what they called it? The big bird!!!!! Isn't that beautiful, trying to understand what they just saw, they made it the familiar because they saw a semblance with its wings and all and they saw was a familiar, Interesting isn't it. Widen your span of knowledge, John insightfully explain the importance of having a wide span of interest, basically. Imagine it, you must be interested in a lot for you to learn a lot. You dont just think you would be creative by just thinking or been interested only about a streamlined set of stuff, common dude, (smirk).
"Serendipity", I learnt this word from John and how it came about. Says that these three princes of serendip, (an old name for Sri Lanka, I guess) were always making amazing discoveries by accident. Hence, the meaning of serendipity, making amazing discoveries or meeting life changing and interesting people without intending to, by accident. Practice serendipity John says. How do I? You might ask. Simple, be interested in almost everything. If not everything, Hehehe. Not prying into people's business, aye, that a tad foolish, isnt it.
image from pixabay
This brings us to another thing John tried to emphasize, CURIOSITY, he says not the type that killed the cat though (massive laughter). Asking Objective and rational questions and not prying into someone else's privacy. I was reading the alchemist and this book and somehow, some supernatural being illustrated this for me as I was trying to understand what type of question I should ask. "At work I asked this lady, why did you tie your hair as I was curious, you know me. I got served. she said "don't do that, don't ask people about their stuff bla bla bla bla, berating like hell. Shit, I forgot the rest of what she said". I came to realize what the old man in the alchemist was saying "always ask an objective question". Then I thought again, it was objective, I didn't just make up random crap, then John says, don't pry into other people's business. It dawned on me. Anyways, moving forward, my mind has tremendously had this upbeat feeling, to seek, to ask to want to know. Like Einstein would say "I don't have any exceptional talent, I question". Well not exactly what he said, I don't even know who said that. Okay that's it's am out, I can't write no report no more. The book is awesome, read it, learn from it, enjoy.
For this week I won't be giving any suggestion for what book to read, I'd love it to be a popular opinion. So probably someone from the comments section and if it's a lot of people we could just take a vote for it.
Adios.
Posted on my whalshares blog here