Preface
Introduction
STORIES:
Discoveries about Creativity
Laws Of Planetary Motion
Electricity From Clouds
Band-Aid
Pneumatic Tyres
Gummed Paper
The Trap Of Paradigm
Invention Of Sewing Machine
Just-In-Time System
Transmission of Nerve Impulses
Printing Press
Dangers Of Locomotives
Flashlight
Lawn Mower
Phonograph
Rubber Heels
The Periodic Table
Discovery Of Electromagnetic Fields
The Tao Of Physics
Congenital Impact of Rubella
Typewriter
The Theory Of Evolution
The Benzene Ring
The Wreck Of Titanic
Wagner's Rheingold
Underwater Construction
Search For The "Hidden Likeness"
Fermi & Nuclear Fission
Cash Register
Discovery Of Current Electricity
Cure Of Diabetes
Boolean Algebra
Principle Of Photosynthesis
Ball Point Pen
The X-Ray
The Fuschian Functions
Safety Glass
The Creative Triggers
Why Aeroplanes Cannot Fly
The "Brownies" Of Stevenson
The Blunder That Founded 3M
Invention Of AC Motor
Discovery Of Teflon
Toynbee's The Study Of History
Inventors' Blindness
The Excitement Of Creativity
Electric Fan
How Typhus Gets Transmitted
Proof Of The Big Bang
Mathematical Theory Of Chance
Coleridge's Kubla Khan
Vulcanisation Process
Structure Of The Crystals
The Compulsion To Create
3M's Post-It Note Pads
Ice Cream Cones
The Structural Theory Of Atom
IBM And Computers
Helicopter
How Experts Resist Ideas
Creative Reveries Of Enid Blyton
Predictions In Gulliver's Travels
Float Glass Technology
Principle Of Immunisation
Journey Into Unknown
The Genius Of Karl Fredrich Gauss
Jean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round Table
Neon Light
Transistor Radios
Precocious Minds?
The Masterpiece Of Sir Walter Scott
The "Fraud" That Changed The World
The "99% Perspiration"
Xeroxing
The Poem Of Stephen Spender
The Anatomy Of Inspiration
Travellers' Cheques
Edison's Fraud
Awe, Wonder And Alienation
The Logic Of Irrational
Epilogue: Themes & Patterns
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Creative Triggers
Many of us are vaguely aware of certain types of "atmospheres" which bring out the best from our efforts. It seems the creative people use these highly personalised triggers much more consciously and deliberately. In fact, often their obstinate insistence on these "stimulants" even earned them the reputation of being eccentric. Here are some examples:
Balzac, garbed in monk's cowl, consumed enormous amounts of fresh fruits and struggled right through the night; this continued for long periods while the inspiration lasted.
Zola needed strange refractions of artificial light.
Kipling required very heavy black ink to express himself.
Descartes wrapped his head in towels and buried himself in bed to do his best work. His thoughts came best to him when he was lying down, a quality which he shared with mathematician Leibnitz.
Proust also did the same, and also sealed off his room from any wandering air currents.
Kant worked in bed with a curious arrangement of blankets and used a tower as a focus while working on Critique of Pure Reason.
Milton composed with his head leaning over his easy chair.
Shelly lay with his head close to the fire.
Dr Johnson would surround himself with a purring cat and orange peels, and drink enormous amounts of tea, while working.
Rousseau worked bare-headed in full blazing sun so as to increase the flow of blood to the brain.
Schiller sat with his feet immersed in cold water, and his efforts seemed to get invigorated by the smell of decay, e.g., fading autumn leaves, sepultural odour of the churchyard or a collection of rotten apples on his desk.
Stravinsky would not write music unless and until his study was arranged in a peculiar fashion.
Jonathan Swift had a compulsion for cleanliness and could not work unless his working table was neatly arranged.
Thomas Alva Edison would close himself in a cupboard when he had to do some serious thinking.
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