Jonah Lehrer discusses unveils that the process and characteristics of creativity are not only measurable, they can be manipulated and taught. He examines creatives of all types and over the course of much history (though the history is mostly confined to western history) and notes certain qualities such as living in cities, collaboration, allowing criticism (but still being gentle), giving time for random connections, and most importantly, random exchange of ideas...even if it seems like wasting time,Leher will tell you it's not a waste! The end of the book also pleads for US education reform geared towards this "better output" for creatives (meaning, it can be taught) rather than the focus on sports and rote knowledge, which I personally liked. ;)

I appreciated Lehrer's broad definition of creativity - creativity is often confined to the arts, but he uses many examples of creativity in science and math fields, along with the creativity needed to start a company. Some of the chapters went a little heavy on the science for me, but that shouldn't deter you from the book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone stuck in the myth that creatives must be certain "types" of people, or anyone that is organizing a group of creative people for a common cause.