레오나르도 다빈치, 아인슈타인, 파블로 피카소, 마르셀 뒤샹, 리처드 파인먼, 버지니아 울프, 제인 구달, 스트라빈스키, 마사 그레이엄 등 역사 속에서 뛰어난 창조성을 발휘한 사람들이 과학, 수학, 의학, 문학, 미술, 무용 등 분야를 막론하고 공통적으로 사용한 13가지 발상법을 생각의 단계별로 정리한 책.
역사상 가장 위대하다고 손꼽히는 천재들이 자신의 창작 경험을 통해 ‘생각’에 대해 어떻게 생각했으며 또한 생각하는 법을 어떻게 배웠는지 구체적으로 설명해준다.
그들의 발상법을 관찰, 형상화, 추상, 패턴인식, 패턴형성, 유추, 몸으로 생각하기, 감정이입, 차원적 사고, 모형 만들기, 놀이, 변형, 통합 등 13단계로 나누어 논리정연하게 설명할 뿐 아니라 직관과 상상력을 갈고 닦아 창조성을 발휘하는 방법 또한 구체적으로 제시하고 있다.
추천사
우리의 상상력이 가지고 있는 무한한 가능성에 대해 눈부신 통찰을 보여주는 이 책은 독자들 내면 깊숙이 숨어 있는 창조의 본능을 발굴하고 일깨워줄 것이다. - 하버드 비즈니스 스쿨 리뷰
디지털시대는 우리에게 교양인으로의 회귀를 요구한다. 근대 학문의 경계를 가로질러 창의적 과제를 수행하는 신인류의 출현을 원하는 것이다. <생각의 탄생>은 역사상 가장 창조적이었던 교양인들의 사고과정을 꼼꼼하게 추적한다. 무엇인가를 '아는' 지식의 단계를 지나서 새롭게 '느끼고' 유익하게 '만드는' 디자인의 단계로 나아가려면 어디서 어떻게 시작해야 할까. 작은 실패를 두려워 말고 먼저 이 책부터 읽어볼 일이다.
-김탁환 (소설가)
20세기가 전문가의 시대였다면 21세기는 통합의 시대다. 앞으로 지식사회를 선도해 갈 인재들은 전문가들이 간과한 지식 대통합을 통해 분야를 넘나드는 창조적 사고를 해야 한다. 이러한 시점에서 21세기 한국을 창조해나갈 미래 인재들에게 단 한 장의 ‘보물지도’를 손에 쥐어주라고 한다면 나는 서슴지 않고 이 책을 추천할 것이다. -이어령(이화여대 교수)
인간의 가장 위대한 속성인 창조적 사고에 관한 매혹적인 연구. 미래의 예술가, 과학자, 인문학자들이 세계를 재창조하는 데 필요한 놀라운 통찰을 담고 있다. -데즈먼즈 모리스 (털없는 원숭이 저자)
우리는 역사상 가장 위대했던 '정신'들의 경험을 둘러보는 것으로 이 책의 출발점을 삼을 것이다. 그들은 '생각하기'라는 것에 대해 어떻게 생각했으며 생각하는 법을 어떻게 배웠는지 알려줄 것이다. 창조적인 일을 할 때 사람들은 매우 다양한 방법으로 '생각의 도구'들을 사용한다. 이 도구들은 창조적 사고가 무엇인지에 대한 본질을 보여준다. - 로버트, 미셸 루트번스타인(이책의 공동저자의 한마디)
It is such a pleasure to write a review of a book of this caliber. I don't have to balance what is good with what is not so good, because "Sparks of Genius" is an excellent, superb book, from start to finish. I would have only one small addition to one of the chapters, which I will mention below.
I think that "Sparks of Genius" is the first book I have ever read on the subject of how to develop genius, but I cannot imagine a better complilation of what it takes to foster and inspire genius and creativity in people. The main reason for this is that the authors base their material on how creative people in the arts, sciences, etc., acquire and develop their skills, and every chapter except the last one (appropriately) are full of firsthand examples from people of genius and creativity in (almost!) all walks of life. Yet the authors themselves exhibit their own kind of genius in organizing the material, writing chapter after chapter with genuine vision and clarity, and most importantly, after intellectually explaining "sparks" such as observing, imaging, analyzing, and empathizing, give specific, generally uncomplicated, exercises on how to develop these skills.
Throughout the book the authors demonstrate that people in very diverse walks of life exhibit the same "sparks of genius" in their work, which I find quite inspiring in itself. In this way they themselves exemplify the value of "synthesis," perhaps the key that links all the methods they depict.
The book is a call to "rethink thinking," to teach cross-discipline learning, and I feel that the methods discussed in the book, and then discussed specifically in the context of education in the final chapter, would be invaluable as educational tools. I believe that if children's education could be fostered along the lines of these tools of creative genius, if children could be taught to use their own internal resources instead of relying on the obvious external garbage such as TV and video games, the improvement to society would be tremendous.
My favorite chapter in the book is called "Empathizing," where the authors discuss what artists and scientists do to go inside of whomever or whatever they are portraying (actors), drawing (artists), treating (physicians), as well as other real-life examples.
My only small addition to "Sparks of Genius" would be in the penultimate chapter, called "Synthesizing," some mention of the "gestalt" in experiencing the whole in music, art, etc. I liked this term from personal experience and from books on gestalt therapy that came out some time ago, and it's a very intuitive concept that fits in well with the chapter's discussion.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars"Everything in your life ends up in your act." C.Steinmetz, August 1, 2000
The authors cite the above quote as synthesizing the lessons of this remarkable book. In so doing, they make a compelling case for a reversal of the education and thinking processes of ever more separating the arts and sciences, the senses, and subdividing specialities. As the authors relate in a number of ways, a central problem of education today is that the students often can pass the tests but not apply what they learned to everyday life. This is a core problem also cited by fellow MacArthur scholar Howard Gardner in The Unschooled Mind. They see the compartmentalization of knowledge and learning as the cause.
The path taken to get to that conclusion is a most unique and pleasant one to follow. They investigated the writings of creative geniuses and the reports of contemporaries about them, and found that these people employed many more kinds of thought processes than the average person uses. And each thought process added something to the whole.
In so doing, they correct many descriptions about these same people in popular (and even scholarly) writings. For example, almost everyone knows that Einstein had trouble with math as a young person. Most people believe that he suddenly blossomed as a mathematician later. But that's not the case. He developed his concepts through mind and body experiments that had nothing to do with math. When it came time to create the proofs for his work, he needed help from accomplished mathematicians.
This is another key point: the creative insight that these people have is never as it is presented to the world. That communicated version is simply one that is easier to understand, but has little to do with the way the innovator perceives the concept. As the authors put it, "Creative thinking in all fields occurs proverbally, before logic or linguistics comes into play, manifesting itself through emotions, intuitions, images and bodily feelings. The resulting ideas can be translated into one or more formal systems of communication . . . only after they are sufficiently developed in their prelogical forms."
To make the case for that perspective, the authors take creative thinking in both arts and sciences and look at the process as one to find commonalities. In so doing, they observe 13 frequently used methods by creative geniuses: observing; imaging; abstracting; recognizing patterns; analogizing; body thinking; empathizing; dimensional thinking; modeling; playing; transforming; and synthesizing.
With many books, you can read a list like that and skip the book. That would be a mistake here. Each of these 13 chapters was a revelation to me with how much can be done in each area. Drawing from a number of fields and individuals, the authors describe advanced uses of these techniques in ways beyond what I could have imagined.
Having heard the concept for the first time in a particular application, I could usually begin to apply it to my own issues. In other words, this book was teaching me to think at a fundamental level that I had never understood before! Then, each chapter has examples and exercises to stimulate you further. Being a messy sort of person, I liked the ones about playing in the mud and keeping old samples around quite a lot.
Also, in each chapter you will find statistics on the prevalence of the methods in ordinary use. Some are virtually universal (such as observing) while others are quite unusual in adults (like advanced forms of synthesizing). Yet almost all of these are quite common in children and in key cultural events (like the Japanese tea ceremony). That seems to imply that education is partly the process of unlearning some important creative skills.
I had personally always been fascinated by Einstein's mind game of imagining that he was riding on a photon of light, carrying a flashlight, and wondering what would happen when he pointed it at another photon traveling next to him. Would it flow back or what? Now that I have read this book, I am enriched by 200 more such examples of creative thinking. This is a book I will treasure forever.
But before you retire into a round of ever greater stimulation and creativity, take a moment and share this book with an educator. This message is of critical importance for the future. Creative geniuses are succeeding almost solely by trusting their instincts. We can do much more to nurture creativity by sharing and applying these lessons to all learning environments. In so doing, we can extend the current best practice to a much more effective level, and accelerate the process of unraveling the important lessons still to be learned.
Abolish your disbelief about the untapped creative potential of all people with this book!
레오나르도 다빈치, 아인슈타인, 파블로 피카소, 마르셀 뒤샹, 리처드 파인먼, 버지니아 울프, 제인 구달, 스트라빈스키, 마사 그레이엄 등 역사 속에서 뛰어난 창조성을 발휘한 사람들이 과학, 수학, 의학, 문학, 미술, 무용 등 분야를 막론하고 공통적으로 사용한 13가지 발상법을 생각의 단계별로 정리한 책.
역사상 가장 위대하다고 손꼽히는 천재들이 자신의 창작 경험을 통해 ‘생각’에 대해 어떻게 생각했으며 또한 생각하는 법을 어떻게 배웠는지 구체적으로 설명해준다.
그들의 발상법을 관찰, 형상화, 추상, 패턴인식, 패턴형성, 유추, 몸으로 생각하기, 감정이입, 차원적 사고, 모형 만들기, 놀이, 변형, 통합 등 13단계로 나누어 논리정연하게 설명할 뿐 아니라 직관과 상상력을 갈고 닦아 창조성을 발휘하는 방법 또한 구체적으로 제시하고 있다.
추천사
우리의 상상력이 가지고 있는 무한한 가능성에 대해 눈부신 통찰을 보여주는 이 책은 독자들 내면 깊숙이 숨어 있는 창조의 본능을 발굴하고 일깨워줄 것이다. - 하버드 비즈니스 스쿨 리뷰
디지털시대는 우리에게 교양인으로의 회귀를 요구한다. 근대 학문의 경계를 가로질러 창의적 과제를 수행하는 신인류의 출현을 원하는 것이다. <생각의 탄생>은 역사상 가장 창조적이었던 교양인들의 사고과정을 꼼꼼하게 추적한다. 무엇인가를 '아는' 지식의 단계를 지나서 새롭게 '느끼고' 유익하게 '만드는' 디자인의 단계로 나아가려면 어디서 어떻게 시작해야 할까. 작은 실패를 두려워 말고 먼저 이 책부터 읽어볼 일이다.
-김탁환 (소설가)
20세기가 전문가의 시대였다면 21세기는 통합의 시대다. 앞으로 지식사회를 선도해 갈 인재들은 전문가들이 간과한 지식 대통합을 통해 분야를 넘나드는 창조적 사고를 해야 한다. 이러한 시점에서 21세기 한국을 창조해나갈 미래 인재들에게 단 한 장의 ‘보물지도’를 손에 쥐어주라고 한다면 나는 서슴지 않고 이 책을 추천할 것이다. -이어령(이화여대 교수)
인간의 가장 위대한 속성인 창조적 사고에 관한 매혹적인 연구. 미래의 예술가, 과학자, 인문학자들이 세계를 재창조하는 데 필요한 놀라운 통찰을 담고 있다. -데즈먼즈 모리스 (털없는 원숭이 저자)
우리는 역사상 가장 위대했던 '정신'들의 경험을 둘러보는 것으로 이 책의 출발점을 삼을 것이다. 그들은 '생각하기'라는 것에 대해 어떻게 생각했으며 생각하는 법을 어떻게 배웠는지 알려줄 것이다. 창조적인 일을 할 때 사람들은 매우 다양한 방법으로 '생각의 도구'들을 사용한다. 이 도구들은 창조적 사고가 무엇인지에 대한 본질을 보여준다. - 로버트, 미셸 루트번스타인(이책의 공동저자의 한마디)
Customer Reviews
(REAL NAME)
I think that "Sparks of Genius" is the first book I have ever read on the subject of how to develop genius, but I cannot imagine a better complilation of what it takes to foster and inspire genius and creativity in people. The main reason for this is that the authors base their material on how creative people in the arts, sciences, etc., acquire and develop their skills, and every chapter except the last one (appropriately) are full of firsthand examples from people of genius and creativity in (almost!) all walks of life. Yet the authors themselves exhibit their own kind of genius in organizing the material, writing chapter after chapter with genuine vision and clarity, and most importantly, after intellectually explaining "sparks" such as observing, imaging, analyzing, and empathizing, give specific, generally uncomplicated, exercises on how to develop these skills.
Throughout the book the authors demonstrate that people in very diverse walks of life exhibit the same "sparks of genius" in their work, which I find quite inspiring in itself. In this way they themselves exemplify the value of "synthesis," perhaps the key that links all the methods they depict.
The book is a call to "rethink thinking," to teach cross-discipline learning, and I feel that the methods discussed in the book, and then discussed specifically in the context of education in the final chapter, would be invaluable as educational tools. I believe that if children's education could be fostered along the lines of these tools of creative genius, if children could be taught to use their own internal resources instead of relying on the obvious external garbage such as TV and video games, the improvement to society would be tremendous.
My favorite chapter in the book is called "Empathizing," where the authors discuss what artists and scientists do to go inside of whomever or whatever they are portraying (actors), drawing (artists), treating (physicians), as well as other real-life examples.
My only small addition to "Sparks of Genius" would be in the penultimate chapter, called "Synthesizing," some mention of the "gestalt" in experiencing the whole in music, art, etc. I liked this term from personal experience and from books on gestalt therapy that came out some time ago, and it's a very intuitive concept that fits in well with the chapter's discussion.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
(TOP 10 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
The path taken to get to that conclusion is a most unique and pleasant one to follow. They investigated the writings of creative geniuses and the reports of contemporaries about them, and found that these people employed many more kinds of thought processes than the average person uses. And each thought process added something to the whole.
In so doing, they correct many descriptions about these same people in popular (and even scholarly) writings. For example, almost everyone knows that Einstein had trouble with math as a young person. Most people believe that he suddenly blossomed as a mathematician later. But that's not the case. He developed his concepts through mind and body experiments that had nothing to do with math. When it came time to create the proofs for his work, he needed help from accomplished mathematicians.
This is another key point: the creative insight that these people have is never as it is presented to the world. That communicated version is simply one that is easier to understand, but has little to do with the way the innovator perceives the concept. As the authors put it, "Creative thinking in all fields occurs proverbally, before logic or linguistics comes into play, manifesting itself through emotions, intuitions, images and bodily feelings. The resulting ideas can be translated into one or more formal systems of communication . . . only after they are sufficiently developed in their prelogical forms."
To make the case for that perspective, the authors take creative thinking in both arts and sciences and look at the process as one to find commonalities. In so doing, they observe 13 frequently used methods by creative geniuses: observing; imaging; abstracting; recognizing patterns; analogizing; body thinking; empathizing; dimensional thinking; modeling; playing; transforming; and synthesizing.
With many books, you can read a list like that and skip the book. That would be a mistake here. Each of these 13 chapters was a revelation to me with how much can be done in each area. Drawing from a number of fields and individuals, the authors describe advanced uses of these techniques in ways beyond what I could have imagined.
Having heard the concept for the first time in a particular application, I could usually begin to apply it to my own issues. In other words, this book was teaching me to think at a fundamental level that I had never understood before! Then, each chapter has examples and exercises to stimulate you further. Being a messy sort of person, I liked the ones about playing in the mud and keeping old samples around quite a lot.
Also, in each chapter you will find statistics on the prevalence of the methods in ordinary use. Some are virtually universal (such as observing) while others are quite unusual in adults (like advanced forms of synthesizing). Yet almost all of these are quite common in children and in key cultural events (like the Japanese tea ceremony). That seems to imply that education is partly the process of unlearning some important creative skills.
I had personally always been fascinated by Einstein's mind game of imagining that he was riding on a photon of light, carrying a flashlight, and wondering what would happen when he pointed it at another photon traveling next to him. Would it flow back or what? Now that I have read this book, I am enriched by 200 more such examples of creative thinking. This is a book I will treasure forever.
But before you retire into a round of ever greater stimulation and creativity, take a moment and share this book with an educator. This message is of critical importance for the future. Creative geniuses are succeeding almost solely by trusting their instincts. We can do much more to nurture creativity by sharing and applying these lessons to all learning environments. In so doing, we can extend the current best practice to a much more effective level, and accelerate the process of unraveling the important lessons still to be learned.
Abolish your disbelief about the untapped creative potential of all people with this book!
Enjoy!