Before & After's suggested reading list on creativity:

This is obviously only a partial list. More and more books have been written on this topic in recent years. Before & After founder, Tom Monahan, added to this list with his first book, The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy: Open your mind to greater creative thinking, published by John Wiley & Sons under the Adweek imprint. Beyond books specifically about creativity, Tom also suggests reading biographies of high-achieving people in your field, and particularly in other fields of endeavor.


Featured book:

The Houdini Solution: Put Creativity and Innovation to work by Thinking INSIDE THE BOX, by Ernie Schenck.

One of the latest entries into this category, this book throws a lot of the other concepts about creative thinking out the window, particularly that tired old "think outside the box" direction. I belive this is a major mid course correction to the entire study of creativty. Plus it's just a damngood read. See my post for more lavish praise.



  
A Whack on the Side of the Head & A Kick in the Seat of the Pants by Roger Von Oech. This guy has done a better job packaging "creative understanding" for general consumption than anyone in our time.  

  
A Creative Companion & Inspiration Sandwich by Sark. A couple of delightful little books with more gems of thoughts than words (figure that out).
A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young.
A one-hour read, this little book indeed provides a useful, easy, effective technique for producing ideas.
Most any book by Edward duBono, although, Lateral Thinking is the only one I've been able to make real sense of so far. But, then again, I can often be pretty thick.
The Secret Language of the Mind by David Cohen. This is a wonderfully designed book about many aspects of the mind: memory, dreams, vision, etc. The explanations are as much visual as verbal.
The Act of Creation, 750 mind-numbing pages, by Arthur Koestler. Long, yes, but long on lessons too.
 
The Art of Creative Thinking by Wilferd Peterson. A wonderful book that offers a chapter per spread on different aspects of creativity, by a guy who really makes this crazy stuff seem simple. 
  The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. The most Dale Carnegie-esque of the lot. But full of useful tidbits.
 
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker. This MIT professor tackles an enormous topic and makes it fairly understandable to the average reader.
More specific to writing:

  
Wild Mind & Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. Is she talking about creativity or is she talking about life? And how different are they anyway?
 More specific to advertising:
  Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan. A wonderful book packed with insight and practical advice on how to create great advertising by a copywriter who has been there. Plus it's funny as hell. 

 
 The Art of Client Serv ice by Robert Solomon. A book about client service that is so practical it's almost embarrassing. Solomon offers unique perspectives that help clients, creatives, and, oh yeah, account people do their jobs better, resulting in more creative marketing.
More specific to design: 
  Problem: Solution by Richard Wilde & Visual Literacy by Richard & Judith Wilde. An absolute must for graphic oriented communications by, Richard, the chairman of the Graphic Design and Advertising Departments at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, founder of Magical Monkey Design and Judith, fine artist and instructor at CUNY's Kingsborough Community College.

Tom's Book:
The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy

    

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