This book asks the right questions. [...] Would you like to learn about your own genius for thinking outside the box? The best advice I can give you is - read this book because it is a cornucopia...for the mind.
Leland R. Kaiser, President, Kaiser Consulting Curt DeMars Johnson...provokes, incites and invites wisdom...[T]his book is designed for inquisitive people of all ages.
William C. Graham, Bookshelf columnist
The National Catholic Reporter
There is nothing more powerful than a question that takes you one step closer to the answer you seek... or perhaps all the way there. Igniting Your Genius helps us ask why, what, when, where, and how as we may have never done so before. I suggest you refer to this book whenever you are looking for inspiration...[w]orthwhile reading again and again!
Keith Virnoche, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Merrill Lynch This book is not a quick read. Sometimes a single sentence will cause you to stop and think. But that may be its greatest compliment, because essentially this entire book is about being thoughtful. It inspires the reader to think with its clear analysis and integration of ideas. It reminds us of the enjoyment and importance of thinking. While reading the book, I found myself grinning at times: sometimes because it reminded me of forgotten wisdom — sometimes because of a surprising sharp turn into an unexpected higher level of insight. A book that can make us think, smile, inspire insights into ourselves, and make us more thoughtful in our relations to our world is an awfully good thing...
Dave Chapman, 2001 Michigan Science Teacher of the Year A question is sometimes more valuable than an answer. Socrates knew that. So does Curt DeMars-Johnson. Curt provides lots of questions about big and little things. Pondering them pushes our minds to think creatively and helps open wider vistas of awareness. This book can be read through start to finish, or sections sampled in any order, by both young and those not so young. Every one will find their thinking stimulated!"
John Hedberg, MA, MD, clinnical assistant professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center In this spirited book, Curt Demars-Johnson raises the art of teaching and learning through thoughtful and compassionate questioning to new heights. Although useful as a collection of inspirational prompts for personal reflection and growth, I believe that the greater gift offered by Igniting Your Genius lies in its potential to engage us together—as teachers, students, co-workers, community colleagues, friends, and family—in acts of social inquiry and social imagination. To the extent that we then move collectively to integrate experiences of exploratory genius throughout our daily lives, this book also offers a generative path toward expressions of social courage. To this end, it is my hope that Igniting Your Genius will be widely read and well utilized.
Ruthanne Kurth-Schai, chair of the Education Department at Macalester College This book is not a quick read. Sometimes a single sentence will cause you to stop and think. But that may be its greatest compliment, because essentially this entire book is about being thoughtful. It inspires the reader to think with its clear analysis and integration of ideas. It reminds us of the enjoyment and importance of thinking. While reading the book, I found myself grinning at times: sometimes because it reminded me of forgotten wisdom — sometimes because of a surprising sharp turn into an unexpected higher level of insight. A book that can make us think, smile, inspire insights into ourselves, and make us more thoughtful in our relations to our world is an awfully good thing.
Dave Chapman, 2001 Michigan Science Teacher of the Year To paraphrase Lao Tse, 'Anyone who sees the same tree everyday has never seen the tree at all.' As a psychiatrist I try to help many people who suffer from seeing, feeling, and understanding in fixed rigid ways. Curt Demars-Johnson has fused together a childlike idealism and delight and wonder at making new discoveries with the mature, sublime thinking of a seasoned teacher and everyday philosopher. Traveling along with Curt at your side, you would no longer see that tree through the lens of sameness or the paradigm of ordinariness. With such a companion the world moves transformationally in the direction of awe, curiousity and depth. Sweet!
Ben Green, co-author Psychiatric Secrets, and past president Colorado Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Society.