I have not finished this book written by Andrew Razeghi but already have gleaned some very helpful information.  Like many books I read this one affirms some of what I have already learned and gives me additional insight.

I have read much in the last few years on the subject of creativity.  One of the things I had learned and observed is that sleep is a time when our minds are very creative.  Our subconscious mind continues to work during the night and that is the reason that we often wake up with the solution to a problem. 

Razeghi points out that our brains do more “sideways thinking” (connecting information) when we are asleep.  Many people such as Ernest Hemingway would take advantage of this concept.  For instance, Hemingway would write a line about a character in one of his books such as “He entered the room and found…”.  Then he would go to sleep and finish the story the next day.

I have found this to be very helpful in preparing to speak.  Right before I go to bed I will look at the topic I will be speaking on and maybe read some information pertaining to the topic.  Many times when I wake up the next day the outline is there in my mind.

This is only one concept that I found helpful.  Another was that there are different types of creativity – Artistic creativity (inventing unique things of beauty or of attraction) Scientific creativity (discovering truths and laws of science)  and Conceptual creativity (solving problems or finding solutions).

Often when we think of creativity, we think exclusively in terms of artistic creativity but many people who are not artisitcly creative conceptually creative.  They don’t dress funny or have beards or anything we might associate with artistic creativity.  Some of them are the most successful business men in world.

He does a great job of explaining the right brain and left brain role in creativity.  It was fascinating to hear about the study of Albert Einstein’s brain.  He was probably partially dyslexic but this led to unusual connectivity and thus creativity.

Another interesting concept is that many conceptually creative people are simply good at connecting ideas rather than coming up with new ideas.  Henry Ford simply took the process he saw in a meat packing plant and the concept of interchangeable parts used by Eli Whitney in the production of fire arms for the military and combined them to come up with assembly line production of automobiles.

I could go on for hours, reflecting on things that I learned from this book.  Here is the confession, I am three quarters of the way through and getting bogged down in some of the more technical aspects of how the brain works.  If I stopped reading today (and I may) it would be worth it.