The Genius of Play | Psychology Today

The Genius of Play | Psychology Today:

"...how do hobbies and imagination help foster professional breakthroughs? 'One possibility is that people are geniuses because they are polymaths and have a huge range of talents,' says Robert Root-Bernstein. 'There's not much the rest of us can learn from that. But another possibility is that an avocation helps you learn skills.'

In the Root-Bernsteins' book Sparks of Genius they amass evidence of 13 cognitive tools, including imagining, abstracting and, yes, playing, that may contribute to creativity by helping people synthesize knowledge across domains."