Nelson and Stolterman present design culture in terms of foundations (first principles), fundamentals (core concepts), and metaphysics, and then discuss these issues from both learner’s and practitioner’s perspectives. The text of this second edition is accompanied by new detailed images, “schemas” that visualize, conceptualize, and structure the authors’ understanding of design inquiry. This text itself has been revised and expanded throughout, in part in response to reader feedback.
The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
by Denis Dutton
The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It’s not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, “socially constructed.” The human appreciation for art is innate, and certain artistic values are universal across cultures, such as a preference for landscapes that, like the ancient savannah, feature water and distant trees. If people from Africa to Alaska prefer images that would have appealed to our hominid ancestors, what does that mean for the entire discipline of art history?
According to Margaret Atwood, there are ten gifts you might want to give to a beginning novelist. These include a notebook, a large box for holding papers, a thesaurus, an exercise or stretching manual, and…. The Art Instinct. As she puts it: “News just in: Art not a frill! Built in!”
Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life
(Harvard Health Publications) 1st edition by Carson, Shelley published by Jossey-Bass
I discovered Carson and her Harvard research on the brain while listening to Paul Kennedy’s CBC podcast about the imagination (which is excellent by the way) and since I can’t get enough about creativity and neuroscience, I bought her book. She explains the neuroscience of the creative process provides activities to activate “brainsets.” These include reasoning, connecting, envisioning, and evaluating.
Leapfrogging: Harness the Power of Surprise for Business Breakthroughs
by Soren Kaplan Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012
Leapfrogging connects new research, unconventional strategies, and practical tools for navigating the “messy” and elusive process of achieving business breakthroughs. Leapfrogging connects new research, unconventional strategies, and practical tools for navigating the “messy” and elusive process of achieving business breakthroughs. Real-world examples come from innovators at Gatorade, Intuit, Philips, Kimberly-Clark, Colgate-Palmolive, OpenTable, and Etsy.
Clicking on the links will take you to Amazon.
