Ankita Arora
Following are a few books that can help you get back in the game, or take it to another level:
Out of Our Minds Learning to be Creative
Ken Robinson put forth the various ways in which we are teaching our kids to not be creative and how creativity is undervalued in the Western culture. The author emphasizes on the fact that we all are born with creativity but the present education system suppresses down our creative tendencies and makes us believe otherwise. Read this book to get those creative juices back in the system and apply them in your educational and work life.
Jugaad is synonymous to unconventional practices by Indians and we are known to be the pioneers of Jugaad. We know how to make a thing work with the least amount of effort and man power. The book brings together such ventures of leading companies, from GE, Future Group to Google, Renault and Nissan to name a few. In the age of sky high R&D expenses, Jugaad can reduce the cost and how! These stories hold testament for the same. Creativity, definitely at its best.
With over a thousand interviews of the most influential and creative minds of the past century, this is a biography of Walt Disney. What took to build a world like Disneyland, what motivated him and who were his pillars of strength. This book has it all. Read this book to be inspired and to relive our favorite childhood memories of Disney.
This book specifically and quite uniquely deals with techniques and exercises to get out of your creative slumps. With over thirty exercises, you can now look beyond your creative dead-ends to a brighter future. Tharp takes you by hand from the very first step to the top of the ladder.
Anyone who has ever designed anything or wish to be in the said field should try this book to understand the perversity and inflexibility of a bad design, mostly of the commonplace devices. Norman takes you through a more knowledgeable journey to understand the durability of a good design and how we lack that in almost everything we create.
As the title suggests, storytelling has become a very intriguing part of today’s business world and people pay more attention to the presenting their details in a better fashion. Lead with a Story contains ready-to-use stories as well as directive steps to create and develop one of your own. As readers and writers we know the importance of stories in our lives and how human minds are stimulated to identifying a good story.
From the co-founder of Pixar Animations, Creativity Inc. is for all the managers who wish to take their employees with them to greater heights, for those who strive for better skill-set and originality in their field of work and who wish to have a sneak peek into the world of Pixar and all those brainstorming sessions with founders and behind the seen theatrics.
By two creative experts of BCG, this book presents a different box of creativity than to think “outside” the given box. Brabandere and Iny present a new model of creativity with new challenges for the readers to think about their businesses and consumers in distinct new ways. The highlight being how to create new boxes for yourself.
In “How Artists Work”, Currey brings to you the daily rituals of the world-renowned artists and how they struggled through daily life to actually do what they love; from Kafka, Tolstoy, Christie, Woody Allen, to Darwin. Franklin, Austen Dickens and more.
In “Women at Work”, Currey compiles the daily rituals and otherwise, of working women in the artistic and creative fields such as Marie Curie, Virginia Wolfe, Patti Smith, Hilary Mantel and more. These come out as inspiring lessons for all those who struggle with daily life commitments to make it count.
The author has balanced sociology, business and economics to present a picture of the working class that has altered its lifestyle, choices and attitude, and how it stems from the economic change that our creativity so brings.
Simon is a legend of the music industry. With this book he brings a fresh and unbiased take to the evolution of music since the 18th century. With funny, and sometimes brutally honest, anecdotes and his witty take on a number of things from the rise and fall of the music industry, what Hollywood did to the same, what rock music did to the music lovers and how rap was born! After reading this book, you may not listen to music the same way.
The two authors have cracked the algorithm to a bestselling novel. They have explained why Fifty Shades of Grey did so well, and the successes behind many a Dan Brown novels and why the numbers are always so random. To anyone who wishes to write fiction someday, this might come in handy.
According to Florida, globalization is quite relevant to our economy and how the creative economy is making “where to live?” the most important question of our lives. Who’s Your City? offers you numbers and city rankings in relation to the demographic of people suitable to live there.
Combining science to creative writing, Cron brings to you cognitive secrets to keep your readers hooked from the very first sentence. The author has carefully used neuroscience to explain how to stimulate your reader’s brain with right words and how to actually “write well”.
Who doesn’t know what Etsy has created for small-scale artists and how it has changed the creative world for handmade art. Etsy-Preneurship helps upcoming artists and present Etsy users to build and enhance their businesses. It even includes free downloadable spreadsheets to understand the basics and how Etsy users can thrive their handmade art into a full-fledged business.
