{"id":901,"date":"2011-08-23T12:39:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T19:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islemaster.wordpress.com\/?p=901"},"modified":"2014-03-17T00:06:22","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T07:06:22","slug":"reflection-the-spark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/reflection-the-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection: The Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Part of the suggested reading prior to my first semester at ETC<\/a> is a book called The Spark: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All<\/em>, by John U. Bacon. It was a quick read.<\/p>\n

The book presents a behind-the-scenes look at Cirque Du Soleil, and the culture they cultivate. It’s presented via the fictional story of a sports agent who takes a sabbatical with Cirque. Mild spoilers ahead (though it’s not a very spoilable book). <\/p>\n

I’ll be critical first. The book is over-simple. It’s a very easy read, unlikely to tickle too many neurons. The pace drags a bit, but it’s a short book anyway. It’s also less than revealing; this story is obviously scrubbed clean of all trade secrets, conflicts, and negative experiences. It’s Cirque propaganda.<\/p>\n

The best part of the book (and probably the reason the school suggested it) is that it’s sprinkled with unsubtle wisdom about creative collaboration. In fact, for my own purposes, I’d like to extract those bits and list them out of context.<\/p>\n