Jump Start Your Brain [Paperback]

After receiving this hot-off-the-press book as a gift in early 1995, I read it immediately. Not that I was expecting to do so, since I had already considered myself a creative individual, but after reading how Doug Hall's background was similar to mine, in that my background also included Chemical Engineering, Marketing, and Procter & Gamble, I gave this book a chance and did not regret it - to the point that I have referred to it a number of times over the years. Although some of the reviewers here are right to suggest that Hall does his share of self-promotion in the book, many of us would probably do the same thing, and although Hall has some fluff in the book, it does not amount to a Stephen King novel-amount of fluff. Quite simply, although many of us feel that we can think outside of the box, I think that, to some degree, Hall demonstrates that we need to think outside the box in which the inner box resides. For example, of the dozens of exercises in the book, one of the simplest, Brain Program #12, is one of my favorites. Essentially, using some dice, the objective of the exercise is to force-associate related elements of a problem in random sequence, increasing the number of connections that would not have been forged otherwise. In addition to the creativity exercises, this book has quite a few quotes related to creativity and persistence. One of my favorites is from Benjamin Franklin: "Up sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough".

The book is garbage, one big fat self-serving ad for his own products and services (I've never seen so many "TM"s and "R"s per page -- all for other stuff he wants to make money from -- along with endorsements from corporations like Disney). Basically, the guy says that in order to be creative you should act like a child and be random. His favorite tool to encourage the former is the Woopee cushion, which he mentions half a dozen times in the first half of the book, as if it were some sort of brilliant new invention. (Maybe he has stock in the company.) Here are a few of the other ways to release your inner child so as to be rich and successful: throw water balloons and shoot people with squirt guns; spin until dizzy; play catch in the office hallway; blow bubbles in the faces of your fellow concert-goers; let food dribble out of your mouth next time you go to a restaurant; give your boss a wedgie... you get the idea. In other words, be a big fat pain in the ... and accuse anyone who doesn't think you're funny of being brain dead (one of his favorite terms for people who don't see things his way). Dude, get a clue. There are other reasons people might not to want to get a water ballon thrown at them. Anyway, this is pretty much his one insight, repeated over and over, interspersed with trite comments about the magic of childhood and quotes about Doug Hall from his family members and former bosses. Of yeah, he also has suggestions for stimulating creativity by being "adventurous," such as "Take a different route to work or school" (gee, I've never heard THAT one before) and "Purchase the #1 paperback on the best-seller list." Anyway, once you've learned how to fart at will and do daring things like eat at a restaurant you've never eaten at before, you'll start getting lots of "wicked good" ideas (another of his favorites) and make lots of money, just like Doug Hall.

Couldn't finish it. Much of the book is the author telling us what a smart guy he is. I didn't get anything useable from it.