Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, a book by film director David Lynch, is an autobiography and self-help guide comprising 84 vignette-like chapters. Lynch comments on a wide range of topics "from metaphysics to the importance of screening your movie before a test audience." Catching the Big Fish was inspired by Lynch's experiences with Transcendental Meditation (TM), which he began practicing in 1973. In the book, Lynch writes about his approach to filmmaking and other creative arts. Catching the Big Fish was published by Tarcher on December 28, 2006.
I've listened to the narrated version of this two times in a row, and have found it to be a very elevating tome.
Short and sweet. You ain't gonna learn how to meditate, or anything concrete at all, but you get to see David Lynch's brain in action as it meanders around thinking about stuff in a very distinct tone.
Plus you might appreciate some previously unexamined details of life, like the perfect soundtrack for a scene or the granularity of rotten flesh.
This was a great little book. David Lynch is way into transcendental meditation (like... Fairfield, Iowa, Maharashi (yeah, the Beatles' Maharashi), possibly a cult into transcendental meditation) but this book is interesting because it reveals how David Lynch, as an artist, relates to his work and makes meaning of creativity and the world around him. This is a book about one creative process. Read that way, particularly if you're a fan, this is a very rich text, but if you approach this book wanting a autobiographical profile or a technical handbook (in the way Mamet's On Directing teaches) you will be disappointed. What you will find here is a book about large, academic subjects written by a visual artist in an non-academic manner.
My favorite chapter is titled "The Box and the Key." The whole chapter is a single sentence: "I don't have a clue what those are." If that …
This was a great little book. David Lynch is way into transcendental meditation (like... Fairfield, Iowa, Maharashi (yeah, the Beatles' Maharashi), possibly a cult into transcendental meditation) but this book is interesting because it reveals how David Lynch, as an artist, relates to his work and makes meaning of creativity and the world around him. This is a book about one creative process. Read that way, particularly if you're a fan, this is a very rich text, but if you approach this book wanting a autobiographical profile or a technical handbook (in the way Mamet's On Directing teaches) you will be disappointed. What you will find here is a book about large, academic subjects written by a visual artist in an non-academic manner.
My favorite chapter is titled "The Box and the Key." The whole chapter is a single sentence: "I don't have a clue what those are." If that sort of thing makes you laugh, and ponder, and smile then this book is for you. If a chapter like that makes you angry or annoys you, it's probably safe to say you won't appreciate this book.
