Synopses & Reviews
This is an updated and expanded edition of the best-selling Thinkertoys, which is considered by many to be the classic book of creative thinking techniques. The original ground-breaking first edition was widely acclaimed by readers and reviewers. The Wall Street Journal reported 'this book will change the way you think." Women In Business lauded it as "one of the most important business titles of the decade."
This new edition contains updated examples, three new Thinkertoys and an entirely new group brainstorming section with five new chapters. Michael is also the author of Thinkpak (A Brainstorming Card Set), which is a novel creative-thinking tool that is designed to facilitate brainstorming sessions and Cracking Creativity (The Secrets of Creative Geniuses) which describes the common thinking strategies creative geniuses have used in the sciences, art, and industry throughout history and shows how we can apply them to become more creative in our business and personal lives.
Review
"Really wonderful.... I picked this one up based entirely on name, a method that has served me just fine in the past, assuming I'd either be conjuring demons or pulling rabbits from hats on the plane ride home. A pretty big win either way. But Alvarado's magic is an entirely different thing altogether. The author describes it as, "the fine and subtle art of driving yourself insane." I'd say it's more along the lines of hacking one's perception -- going on reality trips (mostly) within the confines of the law. Apparently Salvador Dali would nod off with a spoon in a hand that would fall into a bucket below, waking him up immediately with its clamor. That blurred line between sleep and waking is said to have informed the master of surreality."
—BoingBoing
“Few books are as immediately useful as this delightful, inspirational tips ‘n tricks tome. Im having a backyard betel nut party in five minutes and everyones invited!”
—Jay Babcock, Arthur Magazine
Synopsis
Rethink the Way You Think
In hindsight, every great idea seems obvious. But how can you be the person who comes up with those ideas?
In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you’ll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life. Michalko’s techniques show you how to look at the same information as everyone else and see something different.
With hundreds of hints, tricks, tips, tales, and puzzles, Thinkertoys will open your mind to a world of innovative solutions to everyday and not-so-everyday problems.
Synopsis
DIY MAGIC offers series of reality hacks encompassing self-help, philosophy, psychology, and inspiration, that will help artists, writers, and any creative types find new sources of inspiration.
This is a book of magic. This is a book of mind hacks. This is a cookbook for creativity.
In DIY Magic, Anthony Alvarado provides readers with a collection of techniques for accessing deeper levels of creative thoughtfor hacking into their subconscious. From Salvador Dali's spoon technique and ornithomancy (divination by crows), to bibliomancy and using (legal) stimulants, the exercises in this book will help anyone chasing the musefrom artists and musicians, to writers and moreas they tug at the strings of everyday reality and tap into the magic of their own minds.
About the Author
Michael Michalko is one of the most highly acclaimed creativity experts in the world. As an officer in the U.S. Army, he organized a team of NATO intelligence specialists and international academics in Frankfurt, Germany, to research, collect, and categorize all known inventive-thinking methods. His team applied these methods to various NATO military, political, and economic problems and produced a variety of breakthrough ideas and creative solutions to new and old problems. After leaving military service, he was contracted by the CIA to facilitate think tanks using his creative-thinking techniques. He specializes in providing creativity workshops, seminars, and think tanks for clients who range from individuals to Fortune 500 companies.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface to the New Edition xi
The Barking Cat (Introduction) xvii
initiation 1
Chapter One: Original Spin 3
Chapter Two: Mind Pumping 11
Chapter Three: Challenges 22
Chapter Four: Thinkertoys 35
Part One: Linear Thinkertoys 41
Group A
Chapter Five: False Faces (reversal) 43
Chapter Six: Slice and Dice (attribute listing) 53
Chapter Seven: Cherry Split (fractionation) 60
Chapter Eight: Think Bubbles (mind mapping) 66
Chapter Nine: SCAMPER (questions) 72
Group B
Chapter Ten: Tug-of-War (force-field analysis) 111
Chapter Eleven: Idea Box (morphological analysis) 117
Chapter Twelve: Idea Grid (FCB grid) 126
Chapter Thirteen: Lotus Blossom (diagramming) 132
Chapter Fourteen: Phoenix (questions) 137
Chapter Fifteen: The great Transpacific Airline and Storm Door Company (matrix) 144
Chapter Sixteen: Future Fruit (future scenarios) 150
Group C
Chapter Seventeen: Brutethink (random stimulation) 157
Chapter Eighteen: Hall of Fame (forced connection) 170
Chapter Nineteen: Circle of Opportunity (forced connection) 179
Chapter Twenty: Ideatoons (pattern language) 184
Chapter Twenty-One: Clever Trevor (talk to a stranger) 190
Part Two: Intuitive Thinkertoys 199
Chapter Twenty-Two: Chilling Out (relaxation) 203
Chapter Twenty-Three: Blue Roses (intuition) 210
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Three B’s (incubation) 218
Chapter Twenty-Five: rattlesnakes and Roses (analogies) 223
Chapter Twenty-Six: Stone Soup (fantasy questions) 239
Chapter Twenty-Seven: True and False (janusian thinking) 248
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Dreamscape (dreams) 256
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Da Vinci’s Technique (drawing) 261
Chapter Thirty: Dali’s Technique (hypnogogic imagery) 268
Chapter Thirty-One: Not Kansas (imagery) 273
Chapter Thirty-Two: The Shadow (psychosynthesis) 281
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Book of the Dead (hieroglyphics) 287
Part Three: The Spirit of Koinonia 293
Chapter Thirty-Four: Warming Up 299
Chapter Thirty-Five: Brainstorming 311
Chapter Thirty-Six: Orthodox Brainstorming 323
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Raw Creativity 341
Part Four: Endtoys 363
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Murder Board 365
Chapter Thirty-Nine: You Are Not a Field of Grass 374
Index 381
About the Author 395