About The Book: Out of Our Minds - There is a paradox here. Throughout the world, companies and organizations are trying to compete in a world of economic and technological change that is moving faster than ever. They urgently need people who are creative, innovative and flexible. Too often they can t find them. Why is this? What s the real problem - and what should be done about it? Out of Our Minds answers these three vital questions for all organizations.

"It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way andyou lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the otherway and you release resources and give people back to themselves. To realizeour true creative potential—in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities—we need to think differently about ourselves and to actdifferently towards each other. We must learn to be creative." —Ken Robinson PRAISE FOR OUT OF OUR MINDS "Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored . . . especially in our educational systems." —John Cleese "Out of Our Minds explains why being creative in today'sworld is a vital necessity. This book is not to be missed." —Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One-minute Manager and The Secret "If ever there was a time when creativity was necessary for the survival andgrowth of any organization, it is now. This book, more than any other I know, providesimportant insights on how leaders can evoke and sustain those creative juices." —Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California; Thomas S. Murphy Distinguished Rresearch Fellow, Harvard Business School; Best-selling Author, Geeks and Geezers "All corporate leaders should read this book." —Richard Scase, Author and Business Forecaster "This really is a remarkable book. It does for human resources what Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did for the environment." —Wally Olins, Founder, Wolff-olins "Books about creativity are not always creative. Ken Robinson's is a welcome exception" —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, c.s. and d.j. Davidson Professor of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University; Director, Quality of Life Research Center; Best-selling Author, Flow "The best analysis I've seen of the disjunction between the kinds of intelligence that we have traditionally honored in schools and the kinds ofcreativity that we need today in our organizations and our society." —Howard Gardner, a. hobbs professor in cognition and education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Best-selling Author, Frames of Mind

Creativity is critical. Out of Our Minds explores creativity: its value in business, its ubiquity in children, its perceived absence in many adults and the phenomenon through which it disappears — and offers a groundbreaking approach for getting it back. Author Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognised authority on creativity, and his TED talk on the subject is the most watched video in TED’s history. In this book, Sir Ken argues that organisations everywhere are struggling to fix a problem that originates in schools and universities. Organisations everywhere are competing in a world that changes in the blink of an eye – they need people who are flexible enough to adapt, and creative enough to find novel solutions to problems old and new. Out of Our Minds describes how schools, businesses and communities can work together to bring creativity out of the closet and realise its inherent value at every stage of life. This new third edition has been updated to reflect changing technologies and demographics, with updated case studies and coverage of recent changes to education. While education and training are the keys to the future, the key can also be turned the other way; locking people away from their own creativity. Only by actively fostering creativity can businesses unlock those doors and achieve their true potential. This book will help you to: Understand the importance of actively promoting creativity and innovation. Discover why creativity stagnates somewhere between childhood and adulthood. Learn how to re-awaken dormant creativity to help your business achieve more. Explore ways in which we can work together to keep creativity alive for everyone. Modern business absolutely demands creativity of thought and action. We're all creative as children — so where does it go? When do we lose it? Out of Our Minds has the answers, and clear solutions for getting it back.

"A stimulating history of how the imagination interacted with its sibling psychological faculties—emotion, perception and reason—to shape the history of human mental life."—The Wall Street Journal To imagine—to see what is not there—is the startling ability that has fueled human development and innovation through the centuries. As a species we stand alone in our remarkable capacity to refashion the world after the picture in our minds. Traversing the realms of science, politics, religion, culture, philosophy, and history, Felipe Fernández-Armesto reveals the thrilling and disquieting tales of our imaginative leaps—from the first Homo sapiens to the present day. Through groundbreaking insights in cognitive science, Fernández-Armesto explores how and why we have ideas in the first place, providing a tantalizing glimpse into who we are and what we might yet accomplish. Unearthing historical evidence, he begins by reconstructing the thoughts of our Paleolithic ancestors to reveal the subtlety and profundity of the thinking of early humans. A masterful paean to the human imagination from a wonderfully elegant thinker, Out of Our Minds shows that bad ideas are often more influential than good ones; that the oldest recoverable thoughts include some of the best; that ideas of Western origin often issued from exchanges with the wider world; and that the pace of innovative thinking is under threat.

Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

Out of their minds and the force of their imagination, men have created countless beings, from demons and monsters of legend to comic-strip characters. What if their world were real - if dragons, devils and Don Quixote hobnobbed with Dagwood Bumstead and Charlie Brown? Such a world would have its fascinations . . . and its dreadful perils - if it existed. Horton Smith found out that it did - and that he was right in the middle of it!

Chronicles Johnson's external political journeys and her internal transformations - and the vital connection between.