Increasingly often innovation is mentioned as a competitive advantage, and creativity as a crucial feature of national economic performance. Usually we're able to recognise a creative product - for example, in art, music or design - but how do such products actually emerge? Cognitive psychology has attempted to answer this question. The volume discusses the history of innovation and creativity from the standpoint of psychology. Science evolves not in terms of continuous progress, but rather in terms of sudden fits and leaps, which we usually classify as inventions or discoveries. But what's the difference? By examining individuals' mental mechanisms and using exercises that help exemplify processes that inhibit or promote the development of novel solutions, the author introduces the reader to the fascinating adventure that is the human mind.

Paolo Legrenzi teaches Cognitive Psychology in the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Venice.