A review by kymme
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

3.0

Lots of interesting data in this book, and it's well-researched, readable, and accessible to a broad audience. I found it a bit heavy on the "wow, I had this great idea and it made money!" stories---particularly those that are, however financially successful, also rather bad (at least to this reader): Barbie and the Swiffer stories both come to mind. I guess since the focus is on creativity I understand the lack of any sort of critique, but it still felt a bit jarring to me.

I loved learning about 3M and the invention of tape, an item I have taken completely for granted my entire life; I also enjoyed discovering that the culture and success of Pixar rely in part on a building with a centralized bathroom. Fun little details like that keep the book fresh. Long stories about Bob Dylan work less well, I think, and the author's point gets a bit muddled in that section. This is related to the entrepreneurial over-emphasis. In a way it's as if only something super-successful commercially is considered creative--I'm not sure that's Lehrer's explicit belief, but it seems to thread throughout the book.

Curious that this is the second book this year I've read that discusses the inventor of the I <3 New York campaign. More curious is that they do not discuss the same person. Curious and curiouser. A few too many people seem to want to take credit for that puppy.


UPDATE:
Just learned that he made up some Bob Dylan quotes... which is really dumb since that was the worst part of the book anyway! Also I forgot to mention that he mentions no women in this book, which I found odd/annoying as I read. Not that it matters anymore, since this book just went bye-bye due to the whole making-up-Bob-Dylan-quotes thing.