Before the Gates of Excellence is an exceptionally well-written and lively account of the nature of productive creativity or 'genius'. It is a comprehensive survey of knowledge about productive creativity: it explores the theoretical concepts of creativity and the creative process, and attempts to explain the determining factors. Almost all schools of thought and methodological approaches are represented. The facts and ideas discussed are drawn not only from the findings of psychological research but also from biographical studies, autobiographical accounts and personal documents, illustrating the interacting influences of social environments, personality, life experiences, etc. This clear and comprehensive account of the determinants and processes of creativity will appeal to undergraduates and graduate students of psychology and is readily accessible to the general reader.

Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing

In this revised edition of THE CREATIVE DREAMER, psychologist Veronica Tonay blends classical dream theory with a fascinating analysis of universal themes, trends, and elements of dreams that can inspire creativity in waking life. Includes exercises for interpreting and using dreams to expand and enhance creative potential, work through blocks, and form a creative community.• A guide to how dreams can influence and inspire your creative life, from a leading psychologist in the field of dream analysis.• The revision includes new material on sexual dreams and helpful and threatening dream characters, as well as popular dream analysis exercises.• Analyzes the dreams of extraordinarily creative, successful people, such as Stephen King, Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, and Anne Rice.

Abraham Flexner was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century American education. This biography demonstrates his pervasive influence on education, from his early work in experimental primary schools to the founding of the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

What is computational creativity? Can AI learn to be creative? One of the human mind’s most valuable features is the capacity to formulate creative thoughts, an ability that through quantum leap innovations has propelled us to the current digital age. However, creative breakthroughs are easier said than done. Appearing less frequently and more sporadically than desired, it seems that we have not yet fully cracked the creative code. But with the rapid advances in artificial intelligence which have come to provide an ever-closer proximity with the cognitive faculties of mankind, can this emerging technology improve our creative capabilities? What will that look like and will it be the missing link in the man–machine enigma? AI for Creativity provides a fascinating look at what is currently emerging in the very cutting-edge area of artificial intelligence and the tools being developed to enable computational creativity that holds the propensity to dramatically change our lives.

Moneyball meets medicine in this remarkable chronicle of one of the greatest scientific quests of our time and the visionary mastermind behind it. Medical doctor and economist Christopher Murray began the Global Burden of Disease study to gain a truer understanding of how we live and how we die. While it is one of the largest scientific projects ever attempted—as breathtaking as the first moon landing or the Human Genome Project—the questions it answers are meaningful for every one of us: What are the world's health problems? Who do they hurt? How much? Where? Why? Murray argues that the ideal existence isn't simply the longest, but the one lived well and with the least illness. Until we can accurately measure global health issues, we cannot understand what makes us sick or do much to improve it. Challenging the accepted wisdom of the WHO and the UN, the charismatic and controversial health maverick has made enemies—as well as some influential friends, including Bill Gates who gave Murray a $100 million grant. Told with novelistic verve by acclaimed journalist Jeremy N. Smith, the story of Murray's lifelong determination to understand how we live and die encompasses wars and famines, presidents and activists, billionaires and billions of people worldwide living in poverty. It shows the human side of scientific revolutions and of revolutionary scientists—their breakthroughs and setbacks, their genius and their flaws, their champions and their critics—as they strive to bring the news of their findings to the world. This transformational effort is far from over, but the story of its genesis and impact is already an epic tale.

Genius and breakthroughs appear to involve something magical. Andrew Robinson looks at what science does, and does not, know about exceptional creativity, and applied it to the stories of ten breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, including Curie's discovery of radium and Mozart's composing of The Marriage of Figaro.