Product Description

Everybody wants to be creative. Creativity makes life more fun, more interesting and more full of achievement, but too many people believe that creativity is something you are born with and cannot be learned. In "How to Have Creative Ideas" Edward de Bono - the leading authority on creative thinking - outlines 62 different games and exercises, built around random words chosen from a list, to help encourage creativity and lateral thinking. For example, if the task were to provide an idea for a new restaurant and the random word chosen was 'cloak', ideas generated might be: a highwayman theme; a Venetian theme with gondolas; masked waiters and waitresses. Or, if asked to make a connection between the two random words 'desk' and 'shorts', readers may come up with: both are functional; desks have 'knee holes' and shorts expose the knees; traditionally they were both male-associated items. All the exercises are simple, practical and fun, and can be done by anyone.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14387 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Management Today
'A thought-provoking - and thought-improving - book ... Simple, practical and great fun'

Times Educational Supplement
'Good fun, stimulating good thinking'

Business Executive
'It is simple, practical and fun and a necessary read for anyone who wants to have great ideas'

Customer Reviews

Fun and mind-freeing
I am really enjoying this book. I'm not working through the exercises religiously, just picking them more or less at random when I have a few spare minutes or feel that my brain is stagnating.

I like to do creative writing so the exercises which generate story ideas are particularly good for me... but I also like the persuasion exercises too.

Using random words and 'forcing' yourself to come up with links or connections or relationships to other concepts, really does jolt you awake and oblige you to think properly. There's no prize for winning so there's no point in cheating: lazy thinking is not as satisfying in these games! When you really concentrate and try to come up with good responses to the little challenges, I've found that you feel clear-headed for the rest of the day.

I recommend this book as a kind of mental pick-me-up for anyone whose job/hobby/life has left them feeling a bit stuck in a rut with their thinking.

A must for creative people
I must admit to having a liking for the way De Bono writes. He makes things so clear that I absorb his concepts easily. If only I could apply them as effectively, I would be more than happy.

62 ways to innovate - okay
The book does seem quite interesting though you really have to commit to doing the exercises regularly to get the good out of them. I haven't really had enough spare time so not sure how many ideas I've missed out on..