In the foreword, Joey Reiman writes, "Creativity is intelligence having fun." (Notice that no matter where you place the words in that sentence, it’s always a profound truth.) Author Gary Unger is clearly intelligent, undoubtedly creative, and he certainly had fun developing this outside-the-box gem.

There’s nothing pedestrian or pedantic in How to Be a Creative Genius. This is the guidance Lao Tzu would have jotted down on a different day. It’s mind-expanding koans for the multimedia generation. It’s wacky wisdom, irreverent counsel, sarcastic sniping, and DIY insight. It’s also totally devoid of step-by-step instructions.

Gary Unger is an advertising consultant and the proud (one assumes) creator of AutoZone’s "Get in the Zone" ad campaign. Chances are, Unger hasn’t got a clue what makes him so good at what he does, but he knows what doesn’t generate creativity. "We humans tend to think reproductively," he says, "not productively... [we] automatically follow the familiar and previously experienced paths."

Those who stand out as creative geniuses are the people who are able and willing to wander off that path and into the woods, unafraid to travel without a map — but a copy of How to Be a Creative Genius would be as good as a compass, I think. Unger’s non-sequiters are the off-kilter landscape where purple cows and flying pigs just might exist.

Coming in at 90 pages, How to Be a Creative Genius is bigger than it seems, and in the right mind it can absolutely be more than the sum of its parts. If you really want to be a creative genius, you’ll swallow it whole and ruminate gently while it digests.