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The Creative Curve

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The Creative Curve

By: Allen Gannett
Narrated by: Allen Gannett
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Creative Curve, written and read by Allen Gannett.

Great ideas take something familiar and make it feel new.


We've all heard the stories about creative geniuses -- the young Mozart who effortlessly overshadows the hardworking Salieri; Paul McCartney coming up with the tune for Yesterday in a dream one morning; JK Rowling finding inspiration for Harry Potter sitting on a train to London. What we aren’t told is the real story behind such hits. In fact there is a science and method for mainstream success, whether writing a popular novel, starting a company or creating an effective marketing campaign, and in this book Allen Gannett – data wizard and successful entrepreneur -- reveals the four laws of creativity that are proven to work.

New ideas are surprising at first, and slowly become familiar as we get used to them. Allan Gannett reveals there’s a sweet spot between what feels familiar and safe to us, and what is innovative and new: the point of optimal tension between safety and surprise, similarity and difference. The people we think of as creative geniuses are people who understand this sweet spot instinctively; they know what people find familiar and reassuring, and they find ways to reinvent it fresh.

Packed with stories and insights ranging from the team behind Dear Evan Hansen to the founder of Reddit, from the Chief Content Officer of Netflix to Michelin starred chefs, The Creative Curve will help you spend less time on ideas destined to fail and more time on ideas that really break out. This book is for everyone, whether you’re a business leader, a creative artist or a budding entrepreneur – and will teach you the secret to conceiving great ideas that can achieve major success.

©2018 Allen Gannett (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
Business Development & Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success Business Management Success Magic Users

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Critic reviews

A juicy, rollicking tour along the path toward creativity (Seth Godin)
The Creative Curve takes on one of the most pernicious beliefs about creativity — that it is limited to natural-born geniuses. In fact, as Allen Gannett argues so capably, we all have the potential to come up with ingenious ideas and make them a reality. Seasoned with lively anecdotes, The Creative Curve will take you through the science and practice of creativity so that you can start tapping into your own breakthroughs. (Daniel Pink, author of 'When' and 'To Sell is Human')
To anyone who thinks they are uninspired, stifled, or creatively infertile... this book is for you. Allen Gannett shows that you aren't truly any of those things. You're just doing it wrong. (Ann Handley, author of 'Everybody Writes')
Insightful, inventive and practical. . . The Creative Curve shifts our understanding of creativity from a difficult-to-repeat light-bulb moment into a well illuminated and researched path to continual inspiration and creative success. (Shawn Achor, author of 'Big Potential' and 'The Happiness Advantage')
All human beings have the potential for great creativity. Gannett explodes the myth that creativity is some mystical talent some are born with while others are not. Read this book to help understand how to unlock your own creativity, and the creativity of every person on your team. (Kim Scott, author of 'Radical Candor')
All stars
Most relevant  
some really good insights, but should use more diverse people in examples. seemed designed for mainstream success and forced everything into the 4 creative success keys even when some examples did not necessarily fit.

still, overall positive read. I read it at 1.5x the speed since the diction felt too slow. could have fit the core of the book in a 2 pager, but I guess the examples helped drive home the point.

Good insights

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Great book made me think how I can develop the creative curve in my area of work

Great book

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Narrator okay. Book was way too extended, I skipped around.

Relevant but not highly substantive

Pretty good. TL:DR - balance familiarity/novelty, and most geniuses have consumed a lot of content

Pretty good. TL:DR - balance familiarity/novelty, and most geniuses have consumed a lot of content

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The author has many good ideas - and there is a story here. But there are three problems.
1. The writer reads the book! He mispronounces words, misses word endings, misses sounds and accents poorly. This make it hard work to listen to. I found myself saying I COULD DO MUCH BETTER... Please let me read it!

2. The content moves too slowly. There is good material here - but not 7 hours of it! Maybe this could have been easily fitted into 3 - 4 hours.

3. Seemingly, the main idea is to beat the system and get to being creative through a mechanism! This was a little difficult to swallow - and the constant idea of 'but this is not the whole answer' meant I was waiting and waiting for the nugget - the golden idea - the theory point or the 'answer'.... But never felt that it really came.

I don't regret buying it - But I won't listen again - and I wouldn't want to try anything else with this reader...

I nearly quit after the first 15 minutes

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