Imagine That!

Annals of Ordinary and Extraordinary Genius

Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein are co-authors of Sparks of Genius, The 13 Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People (Houghton Mifflin, 1999). See full bio

October 29, 2009

Can Women Be Creative Scientists? The Dangers of Testing for Creative Ability

Is creativity an inborn personality trait or a set of learned skills? The answer determines whether we test for intrinsic talent or teach creative skills. Current research on screening for scientific creativity suggests why getting the answer right is critical to the future of women in science.

October 6, 2009

Stimulating Imagination Through Constraints

You've just asked yourself to write a poem. Any sort of poem. Any way you want. "Be creative," says your inner voice.

No problem, right? Wrong.

September 8, 2009

Fostering Creative Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians (STEM)

The National Science Board, which governs the National Science Foundation, convened an expert panel on August 25-26, 2009 to discuss ways to foster science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent. Getting ready to participate, Bob asked you some months ago what you would do if you could train the next generation of scientific and technological innovators. Here's his report on the meeting.

August 21, 2009

Abstracting: The Angel Is in the Essence

We've all heard that "the devil is in the details," yet scientists, writers, and painters all contend that the angel is in the essence. But why should simplification produce greater insight than having all the details to hand?

July 28, 2009

So You Dance? You Can Think!

We're great fans of the television show So You Think You Can Dance. Who can resist all those dance styles, all that great choreography, all those wonderful young dancers! Aside from the sheer fun, we find ourselves reminded that if you think you can dance, it is also often true that you dance so you can think.

July 13, 2009

Do You See What I DON'T See?

We made the point in two previous posts that observing is the key to imaging. Perhaps perversely, here we also want to argue the reverse. Imaging is a key ingredient in observing. Try on some inattentional blindness and perceptual illusions to see for yourself.

June 21, 2009

What Mr. Spock Can Teach Us About Imagination

Watching the new Star Trek movie reminds us once again that Mister Spock is a master of the imagination. How's that?! Spock, the premier exemplar of logic and reason, imaginative? Find out what he has to tell us about what may be the most important thinking skill in our creative toolbox. Read More

June 3, 2009

Oh Say, Can You See?

What does a fish counter have in common with an experienced baseball player? A blind conchologist with a visual artist? And what might they share with the people who clicked YouTube over 90 million times last month to see the unlikely Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle? Tease out the basic thinking tool that crops up again and again in each case, and you've got the beginnings of your answer-and a start on understanding the bases of human cognition and creativity. Read More

May 14, 2009

If You Could Train the Next Generation of Scientific and Technological Innovators….

If you could train the next generation of scientific and technological innovators, how would you go about it? What aspects of education, in school or out, would you add, change or jettison? Here's your chance to sound-off! Read More

April 28, 2009

Inner Beginners, Entrepreneurs and the Future of Creativity

Creativity favors the inner beginner. This was the message we took home last month from a national symposium on creativity at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. A light green haze hung in the dogwoods in and around campus, but spring was not the only thing in the air there. Three themes ran through our two-day experience like sap in the trees. Let's call them supra-disciplinarity, the creator as neophyte, and creativity as a positive social value. The future of innovation depends upon them.

Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People

Discovering

Boulevard Theater and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century Paris (Theater and Dramatic Studies)

Creativity Basics

Even those of us not in explicitly creative fields must come up with new ideas and insights in order to move ahead. How can we shake up our thinking patterns?

Go to the Creativity Basics page for more on Creativity including:

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Everyday Creativity

How to start living creatively and reap the benefits.

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Books by Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein

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