- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reissue edition (Feb 1 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140109862
- ISBN-13: 978-0140109863
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#185,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #77 in Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > By Topic > Creativity
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
At the age of 38, John D. MacArthur, a destitute high-school dropout, borrowed $2,500 to buy the Bankers Life & Casualty Company of Chicago; eight years later he'd made a million dollars. At the time of his death in 1978 he was the second-richest man in America and "notoriously tightfisted." But he left most of his two-and-a-half-billion-dollar estate in the form of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with only these instructions to his board of trustees: "I figured out how to make the money, you boys figure out how to spend it." Thus the MacArthur Prize, also known as the "genius grant," was born. The award cannot be applied for, and it is not limited to any particular field of interest. Its purpose "is to promote those leaps of creative thinking that may occur when gifted people are left to their own devices." For Uncommon Genius, Shekerjian interviewed forty MacArthur Prize winners--John Sayles, Peter Sellars, Ellen Stewart, and Derek Walcott among them--in an attempt to discover "how great ideas are born." While much of what she learns about the creative impulse is not exactly groundbreaking--it involves risk-taking, openness, concentration, resiliency, and a great love of the work--spending time with the creators she has chosen to include is fascinating. They bring these broad concepts to life by inviting us into their studios, offices, labs, even dorm rooms (the youngest interviewee, Mayan epigraphist David Stuart, was a Princeton student at the time) and discussing their own creative processes. There is much to be gleaned here, not only about how creativity applies itself to various fields (community action, political science, writing, art history, woodworking, and even being a clown), but about how to nurture your own "creative genius." --Jane Steinberg
From Publishers Weekly
Poets John Ashbery and Joseph Brodsky, ecologist Lester Brown, psychiatrist Robert Coles, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, filmmakers John Sayles and Frederick Wiseman, writers Brad Leithauser and Ved Mehta, woodworker Sam Maloof and comic Bill Irwin are among the 40 MacArthur fellows who discuss the subject of creativity with Shekerjian ( Competent Counsel ), who proves to be an effective interviewer and catalyst. They express their thoughts about talent and genius, instinct and judgment; the effects of despair, isolation and madness; and the importance of inspiration, drive and discipline, learning through doing, taking advantage of luck, "staying loose" and building resiliency.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, enlightening material,
By A. Reader "Reader" (Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Uncommon Genius (Paperback)
Very enlightening, casual read. Much to ponder. One of those books I didn't want to put down. Denise: I'd like to see a follow-up.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Traits the Macarthur Fellows share,
By
This review is from: Uncommon Genius (Paperback)
Shekerjian traces the "origins" of creativity in her study of forty Macarthur Fellows. Her writing could be a bit more cohesive at times. A good book that exposes the reader to genius traits, and in turn shows us the creativity that is waiting to be tapped in our own lives. presented in short narratives that support a given creative quality.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A glimpse into the creative mind,
By Suzanne E. Anderson "Author of Mrs. Tuesday's... (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Uncommon Genius (Paperback)
What a wonderful, specific little book this is. I wish there were more like it! Ms. Shekerjian has interviewed men and women in various fields of study and art (and who share the honor of being MacArthur recipients)to give us insight into the pursuit of the creative idea, the spark that leads certain people to persist through failure, to bring the 'next big thing' into being. Ms. Shekerjian should be applauded for stepping back and letting the voices of her interviewees speak, rather than preaching to us on her findings. Again, a terrific book, I wish there were more like this!
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