A new book by Steven Johnson*. More a historian’s descriptive work than a how-to, self-help set of prescriptions. Very interesting, nonetheless. It seems Archimedes did have the right approach: taking a bath really is one way of switching on the creative lightbulb (I shall quote that next time someone asks me how to generate plots and characters), although most good ideas are built on the shoulders of others.
*Also known for his history of the discovery of the transmission mechanism of cholera, The Ghost Map, in the streets close to where I used to work, and his espousal of the Mac and DevonThink.
(and choose your metaphors carefully).