Spark

How Creativity Works

By: Julie Burstein, Kurt Andersen

Narrated by: Julie Burstein

How did Richard Ford's cat influence his work as a novelist? HOW is Chuck Close's portraiture driven by his inability to remember faces? What pivotal moment helped Rosanne Cash understand the healing power of the stage?

Creativity is an elusive subject. We enjoy its fruits - movies, novels, paintings, songs - but rarely are we privy to what happens in the creative process. In Spark, Julie Burstein traces the roots of some of the 21st century's most influential and creative thinkers, including Joyce Carol Oates, Yo-Yo Ma, David Milch, Isabel Allende, and Joshua Redman. Burstein pulls back the curtain to reveal the sources of these artists' inspiration and the processes that bring their work into being.

"These artists may not change lead into gold," Burstein writes, "but they lift materials from their familiar contexts, combining, reshaping, transforming them into works of art that change the way we see the world." Spark is an invaluable resource for the aspiring writer and artist, but the need for creativity extends well beyond the world of paintbrushes and typewriters. Creativity is integral to business, parenting, education, science, and, perhaps most poignantly, our personal relationships. Rarely do books on creativity illuminate and inspire; this marvelous volume will help you find a spark of your own.

©2011 Public Radio International (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

I wanted to like this so much

admittedly have not listened to entire thing, but I can't bear it!
I love studio 360 (radio series this was based on), so I was so happy to see this was available on audible. sadly, audiobook features way too many clips from the show (I already heard them, and the clips feel like lazy cop-out); also feels very disjointed as a whole group of interviews/ whatever this is. not as much as I had hoped of a basic overview of creative types and how they operate. there is a little of this, but not enough. I mean, once could just read the Artist's Way and get every revelation these folks seem to have in the first chapter. I know literary types eschew all self-help, so it amuses me to find the authors so shocked to figure out exactly what other gurus for cultivating creativity seemed to figure out looong ago. I wanted to love, but I would just download the podcast and call it a day, (PS what is up with crappy cover designs for creativity books. can't help but wonder as a book cover designer myself. oo a light bulb! sigh.)

The birth of creativity

What did you like about this audiobook?

The artists' biographies.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

This book made me realize that I am creative.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Yes, the information was presented in a insightful way because various artists' creative

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I loved the narrator's voice. I found the biographies a little bit too long and personal.