Jack's Notebook

Jack’s Notebook, written by Gregg Fraley, is a business novel in the same vein as those by Patrick Lencioni and Eli Goldratt. This book uses a fictional story to relate the concepts of creativity and how to use brainstorming, lists, reframing and other methods for creative thinking.

The story follows the main character named “Jack” (surprised?) as he realizes that there is something more to life. Jack meets a mentor who explains the concepts of brainstorming and other creative thinking methods and helps Jack understand what it is that he wants to do in life. The major portion of the book follows a few different stories with the major plot finding Jack falling in love and then having to find ways to keep his new-found love alive (literally).

The book has an interesting plot that should keep the reader turning the pages through the book, especially through the first 100 pages. The last half of the book veers slightly off track from the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process that Fraley is trying to describe, but it is still an interesting read.

I would recommend the book to anyone new to the creative thinking world since it brings the concepts of brainstorming and Creative Problem Solving to the reader in a manner that is easy to read and understand. I would tell people that have had some training in creative thinking to pass on the book if they were looking for deeper understanding of concepts. That said, even if you are knowledgeable in this area, you might still enjoy this book….it does provide a good fictional story that has some intelligence built in.