The Nature of Creative Development - Paperback

by Jonathan S. Feinstein (Author)

The Nature of Creative Development explores how creative individuals come to have ideas, pursue projects, and make contributions to society. The author pays specific attention to the ways in which creativity grows out of and is sparked by personal interests and experiences. Many creative individuals are addressed throughout the book, including Virginia Woolf, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Ray Kroc, and Piet Mondrian.

Front Jacket

The Nature of Creative Development presents a new understanding of the basis of creativity, describing patterns of development of individuals engaged in creative endeavors. The author shows how creativity grows out of distinctive, unique creative interests individuals form, often years before they make their main contributions, which grow out of their interests. He describes how individuals' interests spark creative responses, as well as ways in which individuals are guided by their interests and values.
The book is filled with case studies analyzing and describing the creative developments of individuals across a wide range of fields--individuals famous for their contributions in the arts and sciences, social sciences, technology, and business, including Virginia Woolf, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, John Maynard Keynes, William Faulkner, the Wright brothers, Piet Mondrian, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rachel Carson, Hannah Arendt, Pierre Omidyar, and Ray Kroc, as well as contemporary individuals interviewed by the author.
This book provides a useful framework for those engaged in creative work or managing individuals engaged in such work. It will help the reader understand the nature of creativity, including difficulties they may encounter in their work and ways to overcome them.

Back Jacket

The material presented by Feinstein offers a unique and rich perspective on creative development. The Nature of Creative Development is a highly valuable contribution to the field of creativity studies.--Ronald E. Purser, San Francisco State University

Author Biography

Jonathan S. Feinstein is the John G. Searle Professor of Economics and Management at the Yale School of Management.