You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
k8griffin 's review for:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
by Rick Rubin
This was a tough one for me to rate.
I became aware of Rick Rubin while doing research about the Foo Fighters for a music podcast a few years ago. He was intriguing to watch in interviews, and it's clear the man is innately creative. When I heard he had written a book about creativity, I quickly added it to my list.
This school year, my department supervisor decided to buy each member of the department a copy of the book for us to read and discuss at our monthly meetings. Despite my already having it on my list and initial desire to read it, this made me not want to read the book.
Having finally finished it, here are my thoughts:
-This is a large collection of ideas, discoveries, anecdotes, exercises and philosophies on art making by someone who has cracked the code. There are a lot of things to learn from Rubin, and we're lucky he wrote it.
-This is entirely too long and very repetitive. It's clear that this was written as short essays in moments of inspiration or reflection. It feels like this could have been equally, if not more successful, as a series of blog posts, or in some cases, tweets.
-This would be a great gift for a creative person, particularly for someone who is just starting their artistic journey, or someone who may be in a creative rut.
-This is probably best consumed as-needed and not in consecutive sittings.
-Any and all creative people already know all of these things, but it is helpful to be reminded of them, and to know that others have struggled in the same ways.
At 404 pages, this is a relatively quick read, I just wish it had been edited down a little more.
I became aware of Rick Rubin while doing research about the Foo Fighters for a music podcast a few years ago. He was intriguing to watch in interviews, and it's clear the man is innately creative. When I heard he had written a book about creativity, I quickly added it to my list.
This school year, my department supervisor decided to buy each member of the department a copy of the book for us to read and discuss at our monthly meetings. Despite my already having it on my list and initial desire to read it, this made me not want to read the book.
Having finally finished it, here are my thoughts:
-This is a large collection of ideas, discoveries, anecdotes, exercises and philosophies on art making by someone who has cracked the code. There are a lot of things to learn from Rubin, and we're lucky he wrote it.
-This is entirely too long and very repetitive. It's clear that this was written as short essays in moments of inspiration or reflection. It feels like this could have been equally, if not more successful, as a series of blog posts, or in some cases, tweets.
-This would be a great gift for a creative person, particularly for someone who is just starting their artistic journey, or someone who may be in a creative rut.
-This is probably best consumed as-needed and not in consecutive sittings.
-Any and all creative people already know all of these things, but it is helpful to be reminded of them, and to know that others have struggled in the same ways.
At 404 pages, this is a relatively quick read, I just wish it had been edited down a little more.