The Creative Mind

The author of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Man uses insights from computer science to explore the mystery of human creativity. Boden outlines the thought processes and mental structures in which our creativity is grounded, and explains how all different kinds of creativity spring from the same cognitive devices and mental maps. Illustrated.

Boden (philosophy and psychology, Univ. of Sussex, England) takes issue with Lady Lovelace's declaration that computers cannot be creative in the same way that humans can. She explores the field of computational psychology, which examines human creativity by analyzing computers that can mimic human creative efforts. According to Boden, understanding how computers process information and yield results resembling human creativity can reveal clues regarding how our own brains process information. This may help us to understand the creative process and increase our creative possibilities. Boden's book will appeal more to adults with a scientific bent, but it is also readable for humanities types interested in the subject.
- Lucy Patrick, Florida State Univ. Lib., Tallahassee
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.