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The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius

by Nancy C. Andreasen

Dana Press, 2005
eISBN: 978-1-932594-18-8 | Cloth: 978-1-932594-07-2
Library of Congress Classification QP398.A53 2005
Dewey Decimal Classification 612.8

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | EXCERPT

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Michelangelo was raised in a rustic village by a family of modest means. Shakespeare's father was a middle-class businessman. Abraham Lincoln came from a family of itinerant farmers. Yet all these men broke free from their limited circumstances and achieved brilliant careers as creative artists and leaders. How such extraordinary creativity develops in the human brain is the subject of renowned psychiatrist Nancy Andreasen's The Creating Brain.
Andreasen explains here how the brain produces creative breakthroughs in art, literature, and science, revealing that creativity is not the same thing as intelligence. She scrutinizes the complex factors involved in the development of creativity, including the role of patrons and mentors, "non-standard" educations, and the possession of an "omnivorous" vision. A fascinating interview with acclaimed playwright Neil Simon sheds further light on the creative process.The relationship between genius and insanity also plays an important role in Andreasen's examination. Drawing on her studies of writers in the Iowa Writers' Workshop and other scientific evidence, Andreasen asserts that while creativity may sometimes be linked to mental disorders and may be partially due to familial/genetic factors, neither is inevitable nor needed for creativity to flourish.

Scientist's increasing understanding of the brain's plasticity suggests even more possibilities for nurturing the creative drive, and Andreasen looks ahead to exciting implications for child-rearing and education. The Creating Brain presents an inspiring vision for a future where everyone—not just artists or writers—can fulfill their creative capacity.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Nancy C. Andreasen is the Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry and Director of the Mental Health Clinical Research Center at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and an adjunct professor of psychiatry and neurology and director of the MIND Institute at the University of New Mexico. She has served for twelve years as the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry and has authored or edited twelve books, including The Broken Brain and Brave New Brain. She was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Clinton in 2000.

REVIEWS

“Our leading authority on creativity reveals herself with this splendid book as one of the most valuably creative persons of our time.”--
Kurt Vonnegut

— Kurt Vonnegut

"I've been a novelist for 37 years and suddenly I understand myself better. Nancy Andreasen's The Creating Brain is a fascinating journey in to the nature and secrets of the creative brain. The sections on Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are amazing, and the concluding exercises could be life changing."--David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of The Brotherhood of the Rose and Creepers

— David Morrell

“Drawing on her expertise as a scientist, physician, and scholar of literature, Nancy Andreasen gives a clear, readable, synoptic account of current knowledge in human creativity.”--Howard Gardner,Hobbs Professor of Education and Cognition, Harvard Graduate School of Education

— Howard Gardner

"Neuroscientists, until recently, shied away from the big questions--such as 'what is consciousness,' 'what is abstract thinking,' or (the topic of this book) 'what is creativity'--as being empirically unapproachable. Nancy Andreasen's book comes as a welcome antidote to this inherent conservatism and shows us how creativity can be approached scientifically. In a market flooded with 'new age' books on creativity, Dr. Andreasen's meticulously researched contribution comes as a breath of fresh air."--V.S. Ramachandran, MD, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California-San Diego, and author of A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness

— V.S. Ramachandran

"An expert analysis of the connections between extraordinary creativity, mental illness, intelligence and the social environment. The complex subject matter is punctuated with intriguing research. . . . Andreasen leaves us with hope that the potential exists to enhance the creative capacity in our children and in ourselves."--Publishers Weekly

— Publishers Weekly

"This splendid, quick read should be a compulsory assignment for those students of the humanities who think themselves irrevocably bored with biology of any sort, including what they will find to be the fascinating links to the human brain's most powerful cultural tool, the capacity for extraordinary creativity. . . . I highly recommend it."--Floyd Bloom, professor emeritus of neuropharmacology, The Scripps Research Institute and former editor-in-chief of Science

— Floyd E. Bloom

"Andreasen writes with clarity and ease, interspersing personal and scientific opinion. She makes wonderful connections between the arts and sciences, which surely spring from her background in literature. And she provides a succinct overview of diverse fields of investigation, as well as providing a perspective that reaches beyond the usual approaches to understanding the relationship between creativity and the brain."--Nature

— Mark Lythgoe, Nature

"Ahead of the curve. . . . Ms. Andreasen is lucid in arguing that with creativity—as with most human traits—a strict opposition between nature and nurture is too simplistic. . . . Ms. Andreasen's book describes the first steps in what should be a long and fascinating effort to understand true creative genius."—Christopher F. Chabris, Wall Street Journal

— Christopher F. Chabris, Wall Street Journal

"As if she were speaking with you at dinner, she explores the earliest record of human creativity . . . The text cleverly uses the autobiographical account of a series of renowned artists, scientists, and writers to illustrate their special insights into their own creative process. . . . Grandmotherly advice from Dr. Andreasen, down to the choice of bedtime reading to the children, is a warm and unique end to a book on the neurobiology of creativity."--American Journal of Psychiatry

— American Journal of Psychiatry

"Readers familiar with Dr. Andreasen's previous works. . . will recognize her personal, conversational narrative and the breadth of her knowledge."--Sandra Patterson, American Journal of Psychiatry

— Sandra Patterson, American Journal of Psychiatry

"This is fascinating reading for people who would like to know more about what happens inside their heads."--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Washington Post Book World

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Washington Post Book World

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

1. The Nature of Creativity: The Ingenious Human Brain

2. In Search of Xanadu: Understanding the Creating Person and the Creative Process

3. Reaching Xanadu: How Does the Brain Create?

4. Genius and Insanity: Creativity and Brain Disease

5. What Creates the Creative Brain

6. Building Better Brains: Creativity and Brain Plasticity

Bibliography

Index

EXCERPT
On the Nature of Creativity

“We can define and conceptualize creativity in many ways. Boundary issues, such as the distinction between intelligence and creativity, must be considered. Both in popular language and in the historical literature, the terms ‘genius,’ ‘gifted,’ ‘talented,’ and ‘creative’ are often used interchangeably. There are boundary issues with domains as well. Both in popular culture and in research studies, one sometimes senses a presumption that creativity occurs primarily in the arts and humanities—literature, music, dance, or visual arts—with little recognition that creativity is crucial for other fields as well, such as biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, earth science, and engineering.”

On the Neural Basis of Extraordinary Creativity

“Extraordinary creativity is qualitatively different from ordinary creativity. The underlying neural processes are distinct. They proceed by tapping into the unconscious in ways that possessors of ordinary creativity alone are usually unable to do…Put simply, they are gifted with unusual brains that permit them to see and think in ways that are not accessible to ordinary mortals. This capacity is both a blessing and a curse, for it makes the creative person not only creative but also vulnerable.”

On Genius and Insanity

“In my own experience, most creative people feel that mental illnesses such as mania or depression are the enemy of the creative process. If their symptoms are severe or crippling, creative people want to have them treated. However, individual clinicians working with individual patients must proceed with care, sensitivity, and respect. The aim is to reduce symptoms and suffering without sacrificing creativity. The physician’s motto—primum non nocere, ‘first, do no harm’—sets forth an important and challenging standard for those who are privileged to provide psychiatric care for creative people who suffer from mental illness.”

On Creativity and the Role of Nature

“What we perhaps can say is that Mother Nature gives creative people brains that are well designed for perceiving and thinking in original ways. Some of that influence must be coded in the genetic shuffle in ways that we do not yet understand. And very likely the gift given by Mother Nature is an enriched ability to make noble associations and to self-organize in the midst of apparent disorganization or even chaos. The creative brain may appear unexpectedly, in people who simply seem to have been given innate gifts. Or it may appear within a hereditary context, in people who seem to have a genetic endowment that makes them creative.”

On How to Build Better Brains

“The creative process is characterized by openness to experience. One of the best ways to get a new perspective on things—an important resource for thinking creatively—is to tackle a new field that you know little or nothing about. If your college major was biology or physics, try studying poetry or painting. If you spend your life thinking about computer architecture, try studying history or reading biographies. If you have longed to learn to play the piano and have had no training in music, start doing it. Just choose something that is quite different from your current interests or occupation.”

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