ELASTIC

Everyone knows that creative thinkers can thrive in periods of upheaval. Truly original minds capitalize when everyone else struggles. And most of us assume creativity is an innate ability reserved for a select few. But Mlodinow shows us that we all have encoded in our brains a skill he terms elastic thinking—a bottom-up cognitive style that frees our minds to be more adept at generating and incorporating novel ideas. Tapping

into this natural ability enabled innovators from Mary Shelley to Miles Davis, from the inventor of jumbo-sized popcorn to the creators of Pokémon Go, to effect paradigm shifts in our culture and society. With Mlodinow’s guidance, we can learn to let go of comfortable ideas and become accustomed to ambiguity and contradiction, to rise above conventional mindsets and to reframe the questions we ask, to abandon our ingrained assumptions and open ourselves to new paradigms. Mlodinow reveals how we can navigate the rapidly changing landscapes around us and provides actionable advice as to how we can harness our elastic brain at just the right time.