Overall this book was inspiring, sometimes thought-provoking, and generally a beautiful read. However, it also was filled with platitudes and gave mundane aspects of the creative life at times much more weight than they deserved. However, I do not regret having read this book. It was sitting on my desk and every couple of days I would read a chapter and felt good about it. It still gets a middle of the road rating for the lack of depth but it was enjoyable enough to make for a beautiful gift or inspire reflection on creativity.
I wanted to like this book, I really did. But I couldn’t. It’s stylish, the prose is really good, but there’s little substance underneath. There are a few good nuggets in here—for instance, the author has good comments on sincerity and inconsistency in one of the final chapters—but it isn’t enough to save the text.
That said, it’s very instagrammable. I’m sure the bookstagram/booktok crowd loves it. It has the same energy as Rupi Kaur, if I’m going to be totally honest, but I liked her work more.
The Creative Act is a great book. It offers encouragement to embrace the wonderful creative energy that is innate to all of us. And pursue its calling.
Anyone can be creative if they will allow themselves the freedom to be
5 stars
According to Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, every one of us, each with our unique experiences, values, and perspectives on the world, has the capacity to tap into a rich spring of creativity in service to our own art. Creative inspiration can come from anywhere, and it can strike at any time. Our job as artists is to be receptive to it when it happens. It requires living in the moment and nurturing an awareness brought about by a child-like curiosity for everything we encounter. Inspiration is transformed into art through an ongoing process of playful experimentation, hard work, and courage to release it into the world once it's complete.
This book is less a prescriptive guide to becoming an artist and more of a philosophy of how to live like one. Although the author is an artist in his own right, this book …
According to Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, every one of us, each with our unique experiences, values, and perspectives on the world, has the capacity to tap into a rich spring of creativity in service to our own art. Creative inspiration can come from anywhere, and it can strike at any time. Our job as artists is to be receptive to it when it happens. It requires living in the moment and nurturing an awareness brought about by a child-like curiosity for everything we encounter. Inspiration is transformed into art through an ongoing process of playful experimentation, hard work, and courage to release it into the world once it's complete.
This book is less a prescriptive guide to becoming an artist and more of a philosophy of how to live like one. Although the author is an artist in his own right, this book is not focused on any single art. It is a collection of short vignettes, each focused on one aspect related to creativity, how it's inspired, and what to do with it. There are nearly eighty of them. Some can be read independently of others, while others cannot.
Some books deliver on their first read, and some mature with the reader as they experience new loves, losses, celebrations, and sorrows. This book does both.
