My first book review after a few years is of Creative IQ: Opening the Door to Creativity.
Overall Experience: I found this book to be an engaging read. Renee is good at infusing her personal experiences into a healthy amount of research to solidify her points. Her tone is not tense but you can also tell there is a lot of passion for her subject. The organization flows well, too.
Big Take-Away: My biggest take-away is Renee’s interesting observation that while everyone seems to be talking about “thinking outside the box” and showing creativity and innovation, our current societal structure actually constrains our creativity. “What if we don’t glean a positive end result from this time?” Is that time wasted? Renee argues no, but if you try to tell a boss that an underperforming campaign was at least creative, you will likely not get far. She also expounds on the importance of being able to take criticism and learn from it. This is hard for just about anybody, but if you have infused a lot of your energy into something it can feel especially rough, like it’s a judgment of you. If done correctly, a criticism of your work should be uncomfortable but expansionary for your process.
Where To Buy: You can purchase Renee’s book over on Amazon (not an affiliate link).
Who Should Read It: This book really is a good match for just about anybody. If you don’t feel you are creative, this book might reveal you actually are, just not in a painterly or crafty way. If you are creative but feel blocked, this book will help you understand why you might feel that way and some ways to get past it. And if you are feeling good in your creative space, this might motivate you to reach deeper to see what you can accomplish.
Let me know what you think of it after you give it a read!