Customer Reviews

Out of our Minds: Learning to be Creative

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Sometimes a writer has an uncanny kknack of sharply focusing something which up until then you had not seen in all its simplicity and brilliance. This book does that but at the next moment it makes connections never before imagained. Even the most obstinately prosaic and safe thinkers will be tempted out of their box by Ken Robinson's ideas, theories and speculations. What's more, he writes as he speaks, in a way that, magnetically and compulsively, is simply irresistible.

There are certain books that manage to be authoritative, entertaining and thought-provoking and are also well-written and richly exemplified. Few authors are able to fashion this attractive mixture. Alvin Toffler and Charles Handy can craft it, and in education, David Hargreaves has the knack. I shall add Ken Robinson's absorbing account of creativity to my personal list of gems.

Creativity is one of those topics that excites some and enrages others. In the wrong hands it can be twee, syrupy, smug, territorial, giving the impression that you have to belong to a special club, with its own argot and conventions. For Ken Robinson it is none of these, but rather a universal talent that people have, often without realising it. Society in general, and education in particular, can squash the imagination and rock children's self-confidence.

What I like about this book is the breadth of its scope ... and the fascinating little stories that illustrate the points being made, tales from history, social and economic background factors, test items, incidents from school life. The book is peppered with these vividly recounted vignettes about thinking and learning, or lack of it ... Many of the illustrations and anecdotes are personal to the author, about people he has met inside and outside the university world, organisations he knows, stories he has been told.

Robinson's line of argument is carefully constructed through the seven chapters ... Because imagination and invention do not progress in straight lines, or along predictable routes, whole organisations must create and sustain a culture that promotes creativity, rather than stifles it. On the surface, relatively little of this book is directly about education, for many of the chapters describe society generally, human functioning, the arts, and the imagination. But you could also argue that all of it is about education. ... I was sorry to reach the end of the text, as it had maintained its momentum throughout. The reading may finish, but the thinking goes on, just as you would expect from a book on this intriguing subject.

I'm thankful that Ken Robinson written this book. It is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of children and the future of culture in the world.

An impassioned, inspired case for bringing the 1st World's education system out of the Victorian Era and into the 21st century. As Robinson say in the beginning; for the last 200 years we have perfected the art of training our children upwards - ignoring parts of the body until we only have the head - the older they get and then slightly to one side (left). Children are steered away from their innate creativity (and we all have it), and then chastised if their brains aren't naturally built to memorize dates, facts and statistics.

That's not education. That's repetition and regurgitation. There's no creativity in it at all, and society is starting to hurt because of it.

Business in the 21st century is going to need creative people more than ever before. Paradigm shifters, if you will. Even the people blessed with technical brains need to be trained to open their minds to the possibilities. Only then can we, as a species and a global society, bloom.

This book lays out Robinson's points (and he makes a lot of very good ones) in an easy to read, conversational and often funny way. Examples, statistics and interviews to back his points pepper the text and really hit home on the validity of his argument and the seriousness of the problem.

A well written and and engaging plea for schools, parents, businesses and society as a whole to stop killing our common creativity and instead find ways to cultivate it as we move forward into a future that - for the first time in a long time - is completely unknown.

I listened to the author speak on [...]. Extremely amusing but very effective at making his points. His writing is the same. Less laughs and a lot more mentally stimulating. As you read you consider your own creativity and the medium you express it with. You think about how this applies to your family and the people around you. The author also makes you think and consider if you are in fact being creative and if you have found the correct medium for expression. Changing a school/education system is a huge undertaking but adopting some of the thoughts and ideas expressed in this book for you or your children is quite doable. You may need to change!