a friend of mine was curious about ‘creative thinking’. while i’m strongly against people ‘reading’ to become creative (i believe it has to be facilitated for them to be able to apply), i sent her this:
i would recommend starting with alchemy, by rory sutherland. when you begin reading it, and want to have a conversation (even if you don’t finish it), let me know.
thinking fast & slow, behave (by sapolsky) are classics for understanding why humans behave irrationally — which forms a bedrock for why ‘stupid’ ideas work. but alchemy is a better read — start there. come to this if you wish.
after alchemy, or with it, you should read this: https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780133892406/samplepages/9780133892406.pdf
even if you can’t get through everything, just read about this:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
finally, we come to ‘how to think of new ideas’. this is useless for me to share — because it would be hard for you to apply it (without seeing the potential). but, if you want, it’s: thinkertoys by michael michalko. this is the bible for methods. most of what i do (such as in this course: https://arjunmakesthings.github.io/teaching/2025_behaviour-design/page.html) are adaptations of that book.
a cute read might also be ‘creative confidence’ by tom & david kelley. i have forgotten the contents of this book, but i know after reading it that the title made sense — and stayed with me.
putting it here to refer other peers who might be interested in similar things.