Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques
Always wanted to be the person who comes up with brilliant ideas? Thinkertoys gives you the tools and techniques to practice just that. Not a book you read from A to Z, but one you can browse, open on a page and try what it says.
Should be on the desk of every (wannabe) creative thinker.
Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step
Edward de Bono is THE man when it comes to creativity. Lateral Thinking describes what the different steps of creativity are.
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
Twyla Tharp (I always have trouble pronouncing her name) is a dancer and choreographer, which make her view on creativity much lighter and - to most - more understandable, than Edward de Bono’s take. She speaks from hands on experience. It is an easy to read, practical book which is literary and literate at the same time.
The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm
Ideo is the leading design firm when it comes to innovation (they came up with the Apple mouse). They have a very interesting way of immersing themselves into a problem in order to find original solutions. Tom Kelley knows how to tell stories and proves to you why observation is more successful than laborious working groups.
A must read for anyone in business!