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

July 22, 2008

Are You Smarter than an Ape's Uncle?

Linguists and philosophers argue that rational thought is impossible without words or symbolic forms of language. But one primate puzzler challenges us to consider forms of effective thinking that do not involve words or numbers. Read More

July 6, 2008

Creativity on the Wild Side: Animal Innovation

Can animals be creative? What if you could demonstrate that an animal not only invented a new behavior, but that other animals copied it? And what if this behavior was then modified and transformed to solve yet another problem? Read More

June 24, 2008

Creating

Who creates, and how? One never-to-be-forgotten experience of an elementary school classroom, story-telling time, and a diffident little boy suggests answers for people of all ages. Read More

June 19, 2008

Building Blocks of Creativity

Consider this blog like a set of toy dolls or action figures. Or, better yet, a box of building blocks. In each post, we plan to explore in playful spirit the people, the places and the stories-in short, the who, what, where, when, why, and how-of creativity. Read More

Books by Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein

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:

Current Issue

Everyday Creativity

How to start living creatively and reap the benefits.