Encyclopedia of Creativity Set

Rating:
Summary: An Academic book for other academics
Review: I have been a student of creativity for quite some time, so I ordered these books with very high hopes of it bringing together emerging thought from the enormous variety of work on the subject (admittedly, a very lofty task)...I found, however, that the presentation of the book was very flat, especially considering the nature of this exciting and dynamic field (THIS IS CREATIVITY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, USE IT! ). Articles are presented in traditional academic style, mostly by (and consequently for) academics, with no evident interweaving of common themes or archetypes, betraying the essence of any holistic treatment of the subject... Many, including C.G. Jung, say that creativity develops from the generative interplay between intuition, the senses, feeling and thinking functions. The irony is that the presentation of this book captures one or two of these functions at best.

Rating:
Summary: A Vital Resource about Creativity
Review: This is an essential set of books for people who are seriously interested in learning what is known about creativity today. The writers are academics who have spent many years investigating and writing about creativity. They carefully avoid "you can do it" cheerleader type material based on half-baked ideas and unproven notions.

That said, some of the entries could be clearer and better written. Nevertheless, I found many inspirational ideas and resources from both a personal and business perspective.

Rating:
Summary: An Academic book for other academics
Review: This is not worth anything close to the price that I, unfortuneately paid for it. Unless, of course, you love reading the kind of thing academics love to write to impress other academics and relatives. I cannot begin to tell you how so far off the mark everything in this book is. Suffice it say, it is not an encyclopedia of creativity. It is a collection of accademic papers which rehash the same old things. One has to wonder if any of the contributors have ever read any of the classic books on creativity that are out there. They, I think, could learn a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Nice work
Review: Wonderful work. Comprehensive and varied. It is "Academic," for the most part, but NOT highly technical. Best of all it has articles by everyone who is anyone in the field. All of the major figures in this field contributed. Not light reading, but if you want to know what the experts say, this is the book.