Warren Berger
I have been writing about the creative process for more than 30 years, going back to one of my earliest jobs as a journalist, as the young lead writer for the (now defunct) magazine Creativity. I went on to write about creativity and innovation for The New York Times Magazine (as well as the Times’ Arts & Leisure section), The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Wired magazine, where I served as a longtime contributing editor.
My first book, Advertising Today (Phaidon Press), focused on the creativity in advertising that was bubbling up at the turn of the century. A subsequent book, Glimmer (Penguin Press), explored how everyone can use “design thinking”—creative thinking and problem-solving—in their lives. And my best-selling book A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas (Bloomsbury) is about formulating and asking questions as a means of innovating and creating.
AMBQ has had a global impact around the English-speaking world and has also been translated into 10 other languages. I spent years speaking about the power of questioning in innovation, and the book was embraced by well-known companies from Disney to Starbucks, as well as by the NASA space program and the U.S. Army. Schools and universities worldwide have used the book as part of their curriculum. And hundreds of thousands of readers, from all walks of life, have turned to it to learn how to be better questioners.
Over the years, I have interviewed and analyzed the work habits and behaviors of hundreds of creators, including well-known painters, actors, writers, graphic designers, film directors, musicians, comedians, and inventors. I plan to do more such analysis in the book I’m currently writing, Find Your Burren, with one difference: I’ll also analyze and describe my own creative thinking and work process, as I venture out in nature for inspiration and then put what I find in writing.
Through the Burren Creativity Journal, you may learn other things about me—that I was the youngest of seven kids raised in Queens, New York, (not exactly a nature mecca); that I now live in a leafy suburb about an hour north of New York City; and that I’m married to designer and editor Laura Kelly. You will even learn, as I did, that my Curtin ancestors from County Clare (my mother’s kin) were once the designated scribes for the O’Brien kings (Laura’s lineage on her grandmother’s side). That makes perfect sense to me.
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Read about the rest of my books on WarrenBerger.com.
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Visit my interactive website AMoreBeautifulQuestion.com to learn more about the benefits of questioning, critical thinking, and creativity.