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The Creative Mind

Myths and Mechanisms

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How is it possible to think new thoughts? What is creativity and can science explain it? And just how did Coleridge dream up the creatures of The Ancient Mariner?

When The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms was first published, Margaret A. Boden's bold and provocative exploration of creativity broke new ground. Boden uses examples such as jazz improvisation, chess, story writing, physics, and the music of Mozart, together with computing models from the field of artificial intelligence to uncover the nature of human creativity in the arts.

The second edition of The Creative Mind has been updated to include recent developments in artificial intelligence, with a new preface, introduction and conclusion by the author. It is an essential work for anyone interested in the creativity of the human mind.

Reviews

'Margaret A. Boden has been at the forefront of efforts to exorcise Cartesian superstition and establish that the brain is a wonderfully subtle machine.' - George Johnson, New York Times Book Review

'Boden makes a persuasive case that a computational approach will help explain human creative processes … written in clear and engaging style.' - Ken Gilhooly, The Psychologist

'[Boden] is committed to thoughtfully analysing thought and is one of the world's best commentators on these matters.' - Douglas Hofstadter, Nature

Author/Editor Biography

Margaret A. Boden is Research Professor of Cognitive Science at Sussex University, where she founded the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences in 1987 (now the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science).