The Monk, The Mushroom, and The MRI

Why might your favourite pet hold the key to solving the grubbiest problems of modern city living? And how did anteaters discover their hidden talent for making ice cream? This book will help you explore new solutions to all the problems that matter most to you and to the world (as well as a whole universe of questions you've never considered).

Creativity is simply doing new things. But when so many of our problems, from how to get through family Christmas without a bust-up to how to solve the climate crisis, are a result of doing things the old way, finding new ways to do things is the most important skill we can acquire.

Creativity has just two ingredients: learning lots of things about lots of things; and being able to join them up in new and interesting ways. But mastering them requires a fundamental shift in our understanding of why and how we learn things: not so we can remember them but so we can use them.

From the ancient art of the mind palace to the neuroscience of jazz, this book explores, explains, and distils those basic ingredients into techniques you can use for creative learning and thinking. On the way you will learn how to read more effectively; how to turn your knowledge into rocket fuel for creativity; how to turn off your self-censor; how to take ideas apart so they are easier to connect; and a whole array of other techniques.

This is the second book in the Creative Living series, and accompanies the stunning infographic poster "Ars Creativitatis".

This product is a 200 page paperback book.

Dan Holloway has been Creative Thinking World champion 4 times (2016, 2017, 2019, 2023), and European Speed Reading Champion three times (2017-19).