Rethinking Thought: Inside the Minds of Creative Scientists and Artists (Explorations in Narrative Psychology)

In 'rethinking Thought,' Laura Otis Gives Readers A Multi-dimensional Tour Through The Minds Of Thirty Creative Thinkers To Illustrate How The Experience Of Productive Thought Can Vary Across The Spectrum. Focusing On Individual Experiences With Planning, Problem-solving, Reflecting, Remembering And Forging New Ideas, Otis Approaches The Question Of What Thinking Is By Analyzing Variations In The Way Thinking Feels. Drawing From Her Own Experience As A Neurocscientist-turned Literary Scholar, Otis Aptly Juxtaposes Creative Thinkers' Insights With Recent Neuroscientific Discoveries Centering On Visual Mental Imagery, Verbal Language, And Thought. By Offering Distinct Psychological Portraits Of Famous Figures Like Controversial Novelist Salman Rushdie And Engineer Temple Grandin, Otis Treats Scientists And Artists With Equal Respect, And Creates A Fascinating Dialogue In Which Neuroscientific Findings And Introspection Engage With Each Other As Equal Partners. 'rethinking Thought' Encourages Readers To Resist The Temptation Of Classifying People As 'visual' Or 'verbal,' And To Instead Consider How Thinkers Combine Both Skill-sets And How Their Abilities Can Be Further Developed As A Result. By Showing How Greatly Individual Experiences Of Thought Can Vary, This Book Aims To Help Readers In All Proessions Better Understand The Diverse Pool Of People With Whom They Work And Interact With--page 4 Of Cover. Acknowledgements -- Who's The You? -- Words Enable And Disable Thought : Michael Holquist, David Krakauer, Lynn Margulis, And Jeff Martin -- The Vast Range Of Visual Worlds : Barry Shur, Temple Grandin, Mary Welty, Hugh Wilson, And Natasha Trethewey -- The Space Of Language : Kate Thorpe, Jonathan Culler, And N. Katherine Hayles -- Beyond Visual And Verbal Thinking : Linda Richardson, Nicholas Gessler, David Finkelstein, And Barbara Zettel -- Thinking Between Minds : Gerd Gigerenzer, Elizabeth Blackburn, And Venkat Narayan -- Creative Conversions : Salman Rushdie, Jason Rohrer, Edward G. Jones, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Rigoberto A Gonzalez, And Harriet Goren -- Learning To Think : Mark Bauerlein, Diana Richmond, Jay Hosler, And Scott Gilbert -- Fluid Individuals, Evolving Minds -- Appendix -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. Laura Otis. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.