Book Reviews
A Review of
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyl’s book has been an interesting read. In his first book, Csikszentmihalyl was very taken with his idea of being in the state of “flow”, and builds on this idea in this book. He defines flow as the feeling that keeps people motivated when they are involved with an activity. Flow is the optimal experience in which things are going well and the feeling is an almost automatic, effortless, yet highly focused state of consciousness. The flow experience was described in almost identical terms regardless of the activity that produced it.
For this book, he spent 5 years interviewing 91 experts in their “domain” (field). The purpose was to understand what creative people are like, understand how the creative process works, and what conditions encourage or hinder the generation of original ideas—a huge undertaking. He interviewed scientists, artists, economists, mathematicians, composers, doctors, engineers, business executives, professors, writers, and others. All of these people had made significant contributions in their area of expertise. Throughout the book there were sprinklings of interviews from all of these interviews to illustrate his different points. I would have like a bit more continuity with the people’s stories, but these people were fascinating. He distinguished people that have made contributions to their field with a big “C.” I wondered about the process for people who were “c” and still extremely creative, and didn’t meet his criterion.
For him, a person who desires to make a creative contribution must learn the rules and content of the domain, as well as the criteria of selection, and the preferences of the field; i.e., a scientist has to be well trained in that area before she can really understand the nuances and be able to get into a state of creative flow because it becomes the way in which our minds are organized. From here, we are able to have an “aha” experience. He did speak to the “99% perspiration” part that follows the creative insight which entails paying attention to the developing work, and noticing new ideas, problems and insights. Staying in touch with your domain and consulting with colleagues is all included in the work of someone who is often highly creative. Another interesting fact about the flow of creativity is that all of these individuals loved what they do—and they are often “designing or discovering something new.”
There were interesting nuggets among his musings on the creative process. Rather than talking abundantly about the more traditional approach to creativity (which can be a helpful paradigm to start—1. Preparation, 2. Incubation, 3. Insight [the “aha” moment], 4. Evaluation, and Elaboration; he highlights some other ideas. An example of this insight can come without preparation or incubation through the gift of a problem, be it personal, from one’s domain or from social/human pressure. I did not find his description of the “creative personality” all that helpful. He also has some interesting concepts such as “mysterious time” which illustrates the need for incubation time as some of his interviewees called, “the need to be idle,” or “mental meandering”, or “intellectual exploratory time.”
Csikszentmihalyl had a chapter on the creative surroundings that these interviewees noted were best for them. “While a complex stimulating environment is useful for providing new insights, a more humdrum setting may be indicated for pursuing the bulk of the creative endeavor—the much longer periods of preparation that must proceed the flash of insight, and the equally long periods of evaluation and elaboration that follow.” The most important thing is to cue into what makes you most comfortable and feeling most in harmony with the small piece of the work in which we happen to be located.
A good portion of the book is devoted to the developmental process of creativity in people’s lives; i.e., what do creative people’s lives look like when they’re young, in their middle years, and when they are aging. Csikszentmihalyl shares many antidotes that illustrate people’s experiences and creative processes through the year. Interesting note is that no one pattern emerged in people’s young years, and he surmised that instead of being shaped by events, they shaped events to suit their own purposes. Some of the notes on drive, focus, perspiration, and curiosity are interesting. In the creative aging chapter, there are some interesting passages on breaking out of ones domain to reach higher levels of creativity.
If you’re looking for a book on how to be more creative, this book is probably not it. He has one chapter on how to enhance creativity, which in good and informative, but could have been expanded. I did like his suggestions in cultivation of your curiosity and interest, and cultivating flow in your everyday life. He also lists “habits of strength,” which are more for helping you to structure yourself.
This book tended to be on the dry side in terms of his writing style. Csikszentmihalyl obviously performed an enormous amount of research and has a wealth of academic knowledge in this area.
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyl’s book has been an interesting read. In his first book, Csikszentmihalyl was very taken with his idea of being in the state of “flow”, and builds on this idea in this book. He defines flow as the feeling that keeps people motivated when they are involved with an activity. Flow is the optimal experience in which things are going well and the feeling is an almost automatic, effortless, yet highly focused state of consciousness. The flow experience was described in almost identical terms regardless of the activity that produced it.
For this book, he spent 5 years interviewing 91 experts in their “domain” (field). The purpose was to understand what creative people are like, understand how the creative process works, and what conditions encourage or hinder the generation of original ideas—a huge undertaking. He interviewed scientists, artists, economists, mathematicians, composers, doctors, engineers, business executives, professors, writers, and others. All of these people had made significant contributions in their area of expertise. Throughout the book there were sprinklings of interviews from all of these interviews to illustrate his different points. I would have like a bit more continuity with the people’s stories, but these people were fascinating. He distinguished people that have made contributions to their field with a big “C.” I wondered about the process for people who were “c” and still extremely creative, and didn’t meet his criterion.
For him, a person who desires to make a creative contribution must learn the rules and content of the domain, as well as the criteria of selection, and the preferences of the field; i.e., a scientist has to be well trained in that area before she can really understand the nuances and be able to get into a state of creative flow because it becomes the way in which our minds are organized. From here, we are able to have an “aha” experience. He did speak to the “99% perspiration” part that follows the creative insight which entails paying attention to the developing work, and noticing new ideas, problems and insights. Staying in touch with your domain and consulting with colleagues is all included in the work of someone who is often highly creative. Another interesting fact about the flow of creativity is that all of these individuals loved what they do—and they are often “designing or discovering something new.”
There were interesting nuggets among his musings on the creative process. Rather than talking abundantly about the more traditional approach to creativity (which can be a helpful paradigm to start—1. Preparation, 2. Incubation, 3. Insight [the “aha” moment], 4. Evaluation, and Elaboration; he highlights some other ideas. An example of this insight can come without preparation or incubation through the gift of a problem, be it personal, from one’s domain or from social/human pressure. I did not find his description of the “creative personality” all that helpful. He also has some interesting concepts such as “mysterious time” which illustrates the need for incubation time as some of his interviewees called, “the need to be idle,” or “mental meandering”, or “intellectual exploratory time.”
Csikszentmihalyl had a chapter on the creative surroundings that these interviewees noted were best for them. “While a complex stimulating environment is useful for providing new insights, a more humdrum setting may be indicated for pursuing the bulk of the creative endeavor—the much longer periods of preparation that must proceed the flash of insight, and the equally long periods of evaluation and elaboration that follow.” The most important thing is to cue into what makes you most comfortable and feeling most in harmony with the small piece of the work in which we happen to be located.
A good portion of the book is devoted to the developmental process of creativity in people’s lives; i.e., what do creative people’s lives look like when they’re young, in their middle years, and when they are aging. Csikszentmihalyl shares many antidotes that illustrate people’s experiences and creative processes through the year. Interesting note is that no one pattern emerged in people’s young years, and he surmised that instead of being shaped by events, they shaped events to suit their own purposes. Some of the notes on drive, focus, perspiration, and curiosity are interesting. In the creative aging chapter, there are some interesting passages on breaking out of ones domain to reach higher levels of creativity.
If you’re looking for a book on how to be more creative, this book is probably not it. He has one chapter on how to enhance creativity, which in good and informative, but could have been expanded. I did like his suggestions in cultivation of your curiosity and interest, and cultivating flow in your everyday life. He also lists “habits of strength,” which are more for helping you to structure yourself.
This book tended to be on the dry side in terms of his writing style. Csikszentmihalyl obviously performed an enormous amount of research and has a wealth of academic knowledge in this area.
A Review of:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of two Cultures
Author Anne Fadiman wrote this book many years ago, and I recently re-read it. Even if you don’t have a specific interest in the culture of the Hmong people, it is a powerful ground-breaking book and it has become required reading for many health care providers including medical schools and graduate programs in social services. It is a gripping book on culture competence, language barriers, love and devotion, and our health care challenges, which all remain salient today.
The central figure in this story, Lia Lee was the 14th child born to Nao Kao and Foua Lee but the 1st born to them in Merced County Medical Center in 1982. The previous children had been born in Laos, in refugee camps, Thailand, and Hawaii. The book goes into quite a bit of historical background about the history of the Hmong people and their political and cultural struggles throughout the book. After Lia was born she began to show signs of the condition know as when “the spirit catches you and you fall down,”(gaug dab peg), or as Western culture refers to it, epilepsy. Her parents believed the etiology to be triggered by the slamming of a door by her sister, but it is really the wandering of her soul; and the doctors believed the origins to be abnormal brain activity.
As a result, the prescribed treatment approaches were vastly different; e.g., herbal remedies and animal offerings from the parents and the Hmong community, and anti-convulsants from the western medical team. The Hmong believe that manifestations of sickness and healing as linked to virtually everything in the universe, whereas the medical community has a division between body and soul, and focuses mainly on the body. There were many disconnects, misunderstandings, and clashes that at one point resulted in Lia being taken from the home by Child Protective Services for neglect because her parents were repeatedly not following protocol (because of the language barriers and cultural belief systems)and the Doctors strongly believed she was in danger. As juxtaposition, the author notes that the Lees were an extremely loving family, took incredible care of Lia; even the Foster family noted and recommended that Lia be returned to her biological family. Lia faced even more medical hardships, through which her family, community, and medical team was present for her; just differed greatly on how to treat her; which ultimately was the crux on the narrative.
This book challenges many notions about western medicine; one of which includes the idea that patients and their families need to “comply” with treatment. What really stands out is that the cultural barriers really inhibited good people from dealing with this true difficult and painful situation; which is one of the hallmarks of an ethical dilemma. One of the many pieces that come out of these discussions are issues of “standards of care” that the doctors wrestle with, within their own community, in addition to the idea of “continuity of care,” that is so prevalent within our own health care system today. Additionally, it reminds us of the power, powerlessness and trust (or lack of) that comes from the place of being a patient in a large unknown, even caring system. The author did a wonderful job describing in a neutral way, the motives, story, and background of Lia, the history of Hmong people, the Lee Family, the Doctors, the Caseworkers, and her own unfolding experience of learning as she immersed herself in the world of the Hmong community. The book got bogged down in a few places with all of the data presented; yet on the other hand, it felt necessary to read it all to soak up the real, unabridged story. I would highly recommend this book.
Review of:
The Practical Neuroscience of Buddha’s Brain: Happiness, Love & Wisdom
With all the new research coming out every month on the neurobiology of our brain it can be confusing on how to apply all this exciting new research to our everyday lives. Rick Hanson has come out with a refreshing book that really explains in detail the parts of the brain, how they function and the patterns in which they interact with each other. He explains how the practice of mindfulness can affect the neural connections in the brain; and how small changes add up over time as neural structures build up.
Hanson also talks about the implicit memory, happiness, and taking steps for internalizing good memories. He also included a chapter on doing some relaxation exercises and meditation exercises to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Throughout these chapters there are exquisite explanations of the brain, the mind and how they are affecting us as we focus and achieve greater tranquility and equanimity.
Hanson has a very interesting discussion on empathy, which is based on the idea that the human brain has tripled in the past three million years and the growth is directed to interpersonal capabilities that promote cooperation such as altruism, generosity concern about reputation, fairness, language, forgiveness, morality and religion. He explains how empathy is the basis of true compassion because it makes you aware of the difficulties others face and their suffering. It involves simulating the actions, feelings, and thoughts of another person. Hanson draws on a fascinating discussion of the neurobiology of compassion, how to invoke compassion, and inviting the closeness of others. All of this is done again with some guided meditation and relaxation. Additionally, he includes a chapter with consummate meditation and relaxation suggestions on kindness which he defines as, “…If compassion is the wish that beings not suffer, kindness is the wish that they be happy…”
He has very short chapters on mindfulness, concentration, and relaxation by itself. He has some nice ideas on how to individualize your own program, and some excellent “how to’s” on setting your intentions, how to focus on everyday mindfulness, filtering out distractions, and managing the desire for stimulation. There are several guided meditations for different goals in mind.
This is an excellent down to earth book that explains the neuroscience of our emotions and interactions with others and how it starts within ourselves. I’d highly recommend this book for an integration of text and an abundance of instructional step by step meditations that are sprinkled with delightful philosophical writing.
Hanson also talks about the implicit memory, happiness, and taking steps for internalizing good memories. He also included a chapter on doing some relaxation exercises and meditation exercises to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Throughout these chapters there are exquisite explanations of the brain, the mind and how they are affecting us as we focus and achieve greater tranquility and equanimity.
Hanson has a very interesting discussion on empathy, which is based on the idea that the human brain has tripled in the past three million years and the growth is directed to interpersonal capabilities that promote cooperation such as altruism, generosity concern about reputation, fairness, language, forgiveness, morality and religion. He explains how empathy is the basis of true compassion because it makes you aware of the difficulties others face and their suffering. It involves simulating the actions, feelings, and thoughts of another person. Hanson draws on a fascinating discussion of the neurobiology of compassion, how to invoke compassion, and inviting the closeness of others. All of this is done again with some guided meditation and relaxation. Additionally, he includes a chapter with consummate meditation and relaxation suggestions on kindness which he defines as, “…If compassion is the wish that beings not suffer, kindness is the wish that they be happy…”
He has very short chapters on mindfulness, concentration, and relaxation by itself. He has some nice ideas on how to individualize your own program, and some excellent “how to’s” on setting your intentions, how to focus on everyday mindfulness, filtering out distractions, and managing the desire for stimulation. There are several guided meditations for different goals in mind.
This is an excellent down to earth book that explains the neuroscience of our emotions and interactions with others and how it starts within ourselves. I’d highly recommend this book for an integration of text and an abundance of instructional step by step meditations that are sprinkled with delightful philosophical writing.