Begley, Sharon. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. New York: Ballantine, 2007. Print.

• In this fascinating and far-reaching book, Newsweek science writer Sharon Begley reports on how cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, we have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. 

Bryan, Mark A., Julia Cameron, and Catherine A. Allen. The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon. New York: William Morrow, 1998. Print.

• After the publication of the bestselling book The Artists' Way, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan, co-creators of the country's most successful course on creativity, were often told that their techniques helped people achieve their business goals. This spurred them to refine the methods to help people perform more creatively and effectively at work. The program is revealed in The Artists' Way at Work: a twelve-week encounter with your own ingenuity, struggles, strengths and dreams -- as well as the political guidance to enable you to get things done.

Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee, 1992. Print.

• With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity. (Amazon.com Review)

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996. Print.

• Drawing on nearly one hundred interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists, to politicians and business leaders, to poets and artists, as well as his thirty years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous flow theory to explore the creative process.

Fine, Cordelia. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print.

• Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Cordelia Fine debunks the myth of hardwired differences between men’s and women’s brains, unraveling the evidence behind such claims as men’s brains aren’t wired for empathy and women’s brains aren’t made to fix cars.

Gardner, Howard. Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York: Basic, 1993. Print.

• In this boldly ambitious study, Gardner ( Frames of Mind ) profiles seven creative giants. Creativity, he argues, is not an all-purpose trait but instead involves distinct intelligences, as exemplified by Picasso's visual-spatial skills or by Gandhi's nonviolent approach to human conflict or Martha Graham's search for a distinctly American form of bodily expression. (Publishers Weekly).

Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking. New York: Little, Brown and, 2005. Print.

• Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

Goldberg, Natalie. Writing down the Bones: Freeing the Writer within. Boston: Shambhala, 1986. Print.

• With insight, humor, and practicality, Natalie Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers to take the leap into writing skillfully and creatively.

Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam, 1995. Print.

• Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our "two minds"—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny.

Goleman, Daniel. Measuring the Immeasurable: The Scientific Case for Spirituality. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2008. Print.

• The scientific evidence continues to mount to support and question spirituality. An essential collection of new essays and research from today’s most compelling pioneers of frontier science.

Goleman, Daniel, Paul Kaufman, and Michael L. Ray. The Creative Spirit. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Dutton, 1992. Print.

• Based on a series produced for PBS-TV, this spirited exploration of creativity includes exercises and practices meant to encourage its liberation. Aided by cartoons, photos and short features, e.g., " News from the Creative Past " noting such moments as the discovery of the structure of the benzene molecule or the invention of earmuffs, the authors emphasize that creativity is in the domain of everyone and not an exclusive property of geniuses or the particularly talented. (Publishers Weekly)

Gowan, John Curtis, George D. Demos, and E. Paul Torrance. Creativity: Its Educational Implications. New York: Wiley, 1967. Print.

Grenville-Cleave, Bridget. Positive Psychology: A Practical Guide. London: Icon ; Minneapolis, 2012. Print.

• This Practical Guide uses positive psychology to show you how to identify—and play on—your character strengths, how to change your mindset, how to boost your positive emotions, and how to become more resilient.

Hanson, Rick, and Richard Mendius. Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2009. Print.

• By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of mindfulness practice, you too can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.Buddha's Brain draws on the latest research to show how to stimulate your brain for more fulfilling relationships, a deeper spiritual life, and a greater sense of inner confidence and worth.

Hirsch, Edward. The Demon and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration. New York: Harcourt, 2002. Print.

• Edward Hirsch explores the concept of duende, that mysterious, highly potent power of creativity that results in a work of art.

Johnson, Paul. Creators: From Chaucer and Dürer to Picasso and Disney. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.

• Now the celebrated journalist and historian offers Creators, a companion volume of essays that examines a host of outstanding and prolific creative spirits. Here are Disney, Picasso, Bach, and Shakespeare; Austen, Twain, and T. S. Eliot; and Dürer, Hokusai, Pugin, and Viollet-le-Duc, among many others.

Johnson, Steven. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. New York: Riverhead, 2010. Print.

• From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout modern time and pulls out the approaches and commonalities that seem to appear at moments of originality.

Jordan-Young, Rebecca M. Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2010. Print.

• In this compelling book, Rebecca Jordan-Young takes on the evidence that sex differences are hardwired into the brain. Analyzing virtually all published research that supports the claims of “human brain organization theory,” Jordan-Young reveals how often these studies fail the standards of science.

Kaufman, Moisés. 33 Variations. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2011. Print.

Kneller, George F. The Art and Science of Creativity. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965. Print.

Loori, John Daido. The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life. New York: Ballantine, 2004. Print.

• Now, in The Zen of Creativity, American Zen master John Daido Loori presents a book that taps the principles of the Zen arts and aesthetic as a means to unlock creativity and find freedom in the various dimensions of our existence. Loori dissolves the barriers between art and spirituality, opening up the possibility of meeting life with spontaneity, grace, and peace.

Malchiodi, Cathy A. The Art Therapy Sourcebook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.

• This authoritative guide shows you how to use art therapy to guide yourself and others on a special path of personal growth, insight, and transformation. Cathy A. Malchiodi, a leading expert in the field, gives you step-by-step instructions for stimulating creativity and interpreting the resulting art pieces. This encouraging and effective method can help you and others recover from pain and become whole again.

Mandell, Fred, and Kathleen Jordan. Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life. New York: Avery, 2010. Print.

• In Becoming a Life Change Artist, Fred Mandell and Kathleen Jordan share the groundbreaking approach made popular in their workshops across the country. There are seven key strengths that the most creative minds of history shared, and that anyone rethinking their future can cultivate to change their life effectively.

Olendzki, Andrew. Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010. Print.

• Both broad and deep, this eye-opening book is one of the best available overviews of the radical psychological teachings underlying the Buddhist approach to freedom and peace. Sophisticated without being daunting, brilliantly clear without becoming simplistic, Andrew Olendzki's writing is filled with rich phrases, remarkable images, and the fruits of decades of careful thought.

Sawyer, R. Keith. Explaining Creativity. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.

• In the last 50 years, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists have increasingly turned to studying creativity, so we now know more about it than ever before. However, until about a decade ago, creativity researchers focused only on highly valued activities, such as creating masterpieces in art and making highly significant discoveries in science. In Explaining Creativity, R. Keith Sawyer extends the study of creativity by examining not only these endeavors, but also movies, music videos, cartoons, video games, hypertext fiction, stage performance, business innovation, and advances in computer technology.

Sawyer, R. Keith. Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.

• Explaining Creativity is an accessible introduction to the latest scientific research on creativity. The book summarizes and integrates a broad range of research in psychology and related scientific fields.

Schwartz, Jeffrey, and Sharon Begley. The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. New York: Regan /HarperCollins Publ., 2002. Print.

• Schwartz (A Return to Innocence), a UCLA psychiatrist and expert on treating patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), teams up with Begley, a Wall Street Journal science columnist, to explore the mind/brain dichotomy and to discuss the science behind new treatments being developed for a host of brain dysfunctions. (Publishers Weekly)

Seligman, Martin E. P. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York: Free, 2002. Print.

• According to esteemed psychologist and bestselling author Martin Seligman, happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Real, lasting happiness comes from focusing on one’s personal strengths rather than weaknesses—and working with them to improve all aspects of one’s life. Using practical exercises, brief tests, and a dynamic website program, Seligman shows readers how to identify their highest virtues and use them in ways they haven’t yet considered.

Siegel, Daniel J. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. New York: Bantam, 2010. Print.

• This groundbreaking book, from one of the global innovators in the integration of brain science with psychotherapy, offers an extraordinary guide to the practice of “mindsight,” the potent skill that is the basis for both emotional and social intelligence.

Sills, Franklyn. Being and Becoming: Psychodynamics, Buddhism, and the Origins of Selfhood. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2008. Print.

• Being and Becoming is a wide-ranging analysis of the nature of being and selfhood. The book presents an original, integrated paradigm with the aim of creating a comprehensive overview of the human condition—and finding ways to alleviate suffering. In essence, the book explores the question, “What does it mean to be?”

Ulrich, David. The Widening Stream: The Seven Stages of Creativity. Hillsboro, Or.: Beyond Words Pub., 2002. Print.

• In THE WIDENING STREAM, author David Ulrich gracefully illustrates the series of stages encountered on every creative journey, regardless of the form of expression. Using the stream as a metaphor, Ulrich takes readers from the moment of inspiration to completion, helping us navigate the joys and frustrations inherent in the process.

Wallas, Graham. The Art of Thought. London: Watts, 1945. Print.

• Graham Wallas was one of the first writers in 1926 to analyze the creative process and suggest a model that featured five stages: 1) Preparation 2) Incubation 3) Intimation- that the solution is on its way 4) Illumination- which is a preconscious insight 5) Verification. His book has gone through many reprints.