The Creative Act
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distils the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime's work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments - and lifetimes - of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us. (Waterstones)
Hardback 404pp
"The co-founder of Def Jam Records and the man behind countless hits, from the Beastie Boys and Jay-Z to Neil Young, offers artistic wisdom that is both gnomic and pertinent.
The Creative Act is not an account of Rubin’s ripsnorting career. It names no names. Rather, it is a distillation of the wisdom Rubin has accrued over decades of bringing records to fruition.
To a cynical reader, The Creative Act might feel like a series of self-actualising niceties. Until, that is, these are just the prompts you need to hear, when you need to hear them. I’ve underlined rather a lot."
Kitty Empire. The Guardian 10:01:23