Any Ideas?
By Rob Eastaway

Published by Watkins Publishing

This is a book about how to have ideas - on your own or with other people - and how to nurture them. Packed with tips, mind games and practical techniques, there are insights not only on how to come up with ideas but also on how to react to them.  The book should help you with any type of problem solving: personal, professional, and even mathematical...

Behind the scenes

Back in the 1990s I used to run creative problem solving workshops for civil servants and for graphic designers (but strangely enough, never both groups together). I also acted as  facilitator at a lot of government awaydays. I often thought about writing a book based on my experience, but ironically I couldn't come up with a creative angle to differentiate it from the hundreds of creative thinking books already out there.

Then in 2007 I was asked to write a little book called 'Out of the Box' as part of a self-help series. It was a chance to share many of my thoughts on creativity, though it never felt like my book because much of the content was edited into somebody else's style.

Luckily in 2016 I was given a chance to revamp that book. This rewritten edition is built around three situations in which you have ideas: on your own; with one other person; and in groups. 

By the way, the title Any Ideas? came up in an informal brainstorming meeting with my friend Ben Sparks, in an EAT cafe in central London - I like to practise what I preach :-)