Creativity Machine

How to Innovate, Brainstorm, and Hatch Great Ideas on Command

Published by Matt Holt Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

A foolproof system for brainstorming innovative solutions—whether you want to disrupt an industry, enhance your team’s productivity, or simply get unstuck—from one of the most influential pioneers in comedy history

In this outrageously enjoyable guide to productive inspiration, discover a four-step, repeatable process for thinking better, leveraging your mind’s every resource, and developing winning ideas in any context.

The wheels of creativity are spinning faster than ever thanks to the democratization of information, the proliferation of digital platforms, and the rapid rise of AI. In Creativity Machine, bestselling author, comedian, and the Onion’s longest serving editor in chief Scott Dikkers shows you how to make these tools work for you. Discover:
  • How an idea-generation structure can yield remarkable outcomes and stronger teams
  • Ways to utilize these practices everywhere—for business, hobbies, and homemaking
  • Strategies for incorporating AI in your creative process without diluting the unrivaled power of the human mind
  • Why “eureka moments” aren’t as important as you think
  • The vital importance of having fun

With guidance from a mentor to the best of the best delivered with his trademark humor, you’ll tap into a goldmine of amazing creative ideas.

Creativity Machine is a timely roadmap for the future of work in a world that requires more than just everyday creative powers—it demands creative superpowers. Unmask yours in these pages.

About The Author

Widely regarded as one of the most influential pioneers in comedy history, Scott Dikkers is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, comedy writer, comedian, and founder of TheOnion.com. His visionary leadership at The Onion, his groundbreaking comic strip Jim’s Journal, plus his multiple Top 10 comedy podcasts have garnered him tens of millions of fans all over the world. Rolling Stone named him one of its Top 10 favorite writers. Entertainment Weekly designated him “the funniest person in America” and placed him on the “It List” of the hottest celebrities in show business. He graced the cover of Time magazine (as an incredibly tiny dot in a photo mosaic), which named him one of the Top 50 movers and shakers online. Scott’s books on the craft of humor, the How to Write Funny series, have taught the craft of comedy to hundreds of thousands of aspiring comedians and comedy writers around the world. His students have gone on to win Emmys, Grammys, and Oscars.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Matt Holt Books (July 28, 2026)
  • Length: 256 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781637748923

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Raves and Reviews

 “In the age of AI, Scott Dikkers shows how the only ‘machine’ you need to supercharge your creativity is your own mind.”
—James Breakwell, Author, Only Dead on the Inside 

Creativity Machine is a marvelous blend of the pragmatic and the charming. Built to help anyone who wants to propel their imaginative brain, from novice to seasoned professional, it’s a mix of how-to advice and sharp (and amusing) anecdotes from Coca-Cola to This Is Spinal Tap . . . This is a guide to sparking (and harnessing) creativity that belongs on a shelf right by your computer—or better, in your hands as a practical field guide.”
—John A. McDermott, Author, The Last Spirits of Manhattan 

“Scott Dikkers replaces the myth of the genius-at-work with a practical system for producing good ideas on command. Using his own experiences and a range of real-world analogies, he lays out how creativity actually works and how you might put it to work yourself. So you can read this book, or keep waiting for inspiration to strike.”
—Jane Harrington, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Washington and Lee University, and Author, Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance 

"If you have been searching for a book that is ostensibly a Play-Doh Fun Factory that consistently produces quality ideas and gives you a tool kit full of field tests to apply your own innovative idea generating, then your search is over. Scott Dikkers has written a practical user’s manual on how to build and operate your very own Creativity Machine.”
—Pat Hazell, Host, Creativity in Captivity podcast

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