Creativity

Csikszentmihalyi sets out to explain what produces the moments that make life feel worth living, whether the excitement belongs to an artist at the easel or a scientist in the lab. His aim is practical: to turn an understanding of those moments into something people can use to enrich their own lives.

The book rests on 100 interviews with exceptional people, among them biologists, physicists, politicians, business leaders, poets and artists. These conversations are combined with 30 years of the author's own research on the subject. He applies his well-known theory to the creative process and uses it to examine how creative work actually happens.

Along the way he takes up specific questions. He addresses the reason creative people so often come across as selfish and arrogant. He also shows why the tortured genius is largely a myth. He answers both with evidence from his interviews rather than with romantic assumptions about talent.

This is non-fiction in the form of psychological research, aimed at general readers, artists, scientists and professionals alike. It argues directly that creativity needs to be cultivated, and that the future of the country, if not the world, depends on it.