Philippe Petit's Creativity

Regular readers of this blog know my admiration for Philippe Petit who has become famous for his 1974 tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. It took six years to plan. Colum McCann made him a hero of the  novel Let the Great World Spin, and the documentary about Petit's World Trade Centre tightrope walk, Man On Wire, won an Academy Award. I would have made Philippe the hero of a musical long ago, if the Twin Towers had not become this century's symbol of destruction instead of creative daring. Lately Philippe wrote a book about Creativity which starts by stating "I frown upon books about creativity". It's not really a self-help book for people who want to emulate him, but rather "a wonderful glimpse into the mind of someone who accomplishes things by thinking and doing differently than others". What I greatly admire is Philippe's ability to dream impossible dreams and his determination to make them come true, whatever the prize. That is, in my opinion, the essence of creative power.