This spoken-word audio production is part of a series of thematically organized tapes that feature interviews and material representing the entire spectrum and history of National Public Radio programming. Creativity, as demonstrated here, is an aspect of personality rather than of intelligence. It is a breaking out of hardened habits, an expression of the unconscious mind, and the result of imagination.
Jimmy Landry, a seven year old, describes his invention "The Bullet Grabber" which is designed to end war. The same kind of playfulness he exhibits comes through jazz pianist Dave Brubeck's commentary on the thrill of musical improvisation before an audience. The natural buoyancy of creativity can result in magic moments of freedom as demonstrated in talks by writer Hugh Gallagher, outsider artist Wes Bobo, and autistic animal scientist Temple Grandin. Best of all is elderly William Maxwell's assessment of improvisation and memory in his long career as a fiction writer.