Are you interested in reading about creativity?

On the last day of every month, I post a list of happiness-related recommended reading.
A reader asked for a list on the subject of creativity, so here it is.

A note about this list: I find people’s descriptions of their own creative processes more useful than books that suggest creativity exercises, so that’s the kind of book that dominates on my list.

Each one of these books is fascinating and will be enjoyed by anyone, whether or not they're interested specifically in creativity – except the Boice and the Baty books on writing, which really do focus on the process of writing.

Books about creativity:
Bob Dylan, Chronicles
Edward Weston, The Flame of Recognition
Twyla Tharp, The Summing Up
Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography
Robert Boice, How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency -- although (ironically) badly written, everyone I know who has read this thinks it's a fantastic book for helping writers get writing done -- but it's bizarrely expensive, so be sure to check the price before you buy!
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
Chris Baty, No Plot, No Problem
Christopher Alexander et al, A Pattern Language
Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Virginia Woolf, A Writer’s Diary

If you're interested in other lists of happiness-related recommended reading, check out this blog's right column, near the bottom, under "Happiness Library."

Comments

[elcid]

As much as I would like to, I don't have the time to read that much. But I have found a worthy substitute in some blogs that I find deeply inspirational like postsecret, or more recently artworkfromtheworkplace. Short stories, fast to read, but full of meaning...

[Helen]

Are the "writers" books useful for non-fiction writing?

[Hanna]

Thanks for the list, I'm saving it and will look for these books, specially Virginia Wolf, I must have missed this book?!

I'm reading The creative habit by Twarp right now, it is sooo great! Also like the science of Csíkszentmihalyi's books about flow and The Leonardo Trait by Angie Dixon.

Creativity is what makes me happy!

[Gretchen Rubin]

The Boice book is extremely useful to non-fiction writers, also the Woolf -- the Baty book, less so, because it's about novel-writing.

I love Czikszentmihalyi's work (sp?). Fascinating. I LOVE Postsecret -- just bought the book they did. But I wonder -- does it strike anyone that most of the postcards have a similar approach, a similar sensibility? I wonder if the site has shaped the way people conceive the expression of their secrets...

[Martha Garvey]

Love the Tharp book (but..err...looks like the link is broken). So pragmatic. So Midwestern. So "get up and do it whether you feel like it or not.")

I also recommmend her interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.

SmithMag recently had a six-word memoir contest that made me think of PostSecret..I do think the site shapes the secret, for sure.

[Scott McArthur]

Hiya. I was reading a discussion the Creative Think Blog the other day about the light bulb. They suggest that the bulb as a metaphor for innovation and creativity had had its day..what you think? I suggested a colour?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is pronounced 'Me-hi Chicksent-me-hiee'. Took me ages to be able to say that!

[Zen of Writing]

I loved Dylan's Chronicles and Tharp's Creative Habit, as well as Loori's Zen of Creativity, Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. I also liked Beat Writers at Work, a Paris Review book.

[Debra March]

The best books I have ever read on creativity are by the wonderous Julia Cameron. For anyone looking to spark their creativity, Julia's books, "The Artist's Way and Walking in this World" among many great other must reads.

[Debbie]

Hi Gretchen, Thanks for the list. I was able to order the Boice book through my library, just picked it up yesterday, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Samuel L Jackson]

I just want to say that most of the books are wonderful and have helped me alot. Thanks Happiness Project!

[Persuasion]

It's not strictly a creativity book, but "Make It Stick" did wonders for my creativity!!

[Kathleen Burkhalter]

Julia Cameron has written many books about creativity. The Artist's Way is great.