Ministry of Propaganda

Ministry of Propaganda - 18/Nov/2006: "Just Read: Creative Economy"

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Just Read: Creative Economy

It took me a bit longer (I think I started reading it during my summer holiday), but I've just finished reading The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas by John Howkins. The book is from 2001, which I guess means some or most of it was written in 2000. Nevertheless it is a very current and interesting book:

John Howkins has written several books about the topic, this book being the most recent. Don't let the title mislead you, when he's talking about 'creative' he's not talking only talking about art and literature (a frequent association), but the much more broad generation of new ideas and concepts. This leads him to a review of the economic and regulatory issues surrounding intellectual property. Some interesting historical information I hadn't known before about how property rights developed over the centuries and how political decisions influenced them in various countries.

He points out the various issues around the patent system and intellectual property as well as how open source and other recent developments challenge it. But keeping my own current situation and interests in mind I found the fourth chapter (Managing Creativity) the most interesting chapter. How can individuals be successful in the creative economy? With the decline of traditional full-time permanent employment and the emergence of the knowledge and creative worker, what are good strategies to continue be successful?

I'm still working out parts of my personal answer to some of these questions and will continue updating it as it will change over time, I think this book will help me with it. Recommended.

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