Creativity Book Reviews: 12 Top Reads

Best Books About Creativity

In this video, Brian Collins shares some of the best books about creativity. He discusses how all creatives have felt like they don't have what it takes to express themselves at some point in their careers. The themes explored in these books include procrastination, fear of failure, and fear of success.

Still Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

• Austin Cleon's book explores the idea that there is no such thing as an original work.

• The key to creativity is taking ideas from multiple sources and adding your own voice.

• Cleon provides illustrations and talks about being creative in the digital age.

• One of the favorite quotes from this book is "Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read."

Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

• This book provides practical ways through essays and illustrations that can help get your work out into the world.

• It explores everything from balancing sharing versus over-sharing and getting over a fear of putting yourself out there.

• A great quote from this book is "Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love, and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff."

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

• This book has ten different strategies for staying motivated with your creative work.

• These strategies include everyday being Groundhog Day, building a bliss station, forgetting the noun, and doing the verb.

The War of Art

• Stephen Pressfield explores how aspiring and professional artists face demons like procrastination and self-doubt.

• He recounts his own creative struggles as an aspiring novelist when he was younger.

• Pressfield has written multiple books on the creative process, including "Do the Work" and "The Artist's Journey."

Creativity Inc.

• This book by Ed Catmull explores how to build a creative culture in a company.

Creativity and Entrepreneurship

This section covers books that combine creativity with entrepreneurship and business.

The Brain Trust Concept

• Ed Catmull's book "Creativity, Inc." describes the concept of The Brain Trust, where people working on a film in Pixar can all give feedback in a safe place.

• This book is recommended for those interested in creating a film like Toy Story or releasing a product or brand.

The Artist's Way

• Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way" explores what makes an artist and describes what an artist or creative's life looks like.

• It proposes the concept of morning pages, which involves daily early morning writing practice to help find your muse and express yourself.

• It also proposes the concept of art estates, which involves taking time off to visit museums or galleries to see creative work by someone you admire.

The Creative Habit

• Twyla Tharp's book "The Creative Habit" is about developing creativity with the right education, habits, and work ethic.

• It describes how she finds inspiration for her hit ballet shows and musicals and the habits and routines that she relies on.

• One perception in the book describes an early morning routine of getting up at 5 am to go to the gym every day as it sparks her creativity.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

• Elizabeth Gilbert's book "Big Magic" teaches readers how to tackle common fears about something they've written or recorded or want to publish.

• She shows readers how to rise above them as this is where creativity's big magic takes place.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow" explores this psychological concept when you're writing or working on a creative project, and you get so immersed that all sense of time and effort fades away.

Books on Creativity

This section discusses various books that can help individuals become more creative and better at their work.

Control of Consciousness Determines the Quality of Life by Paul Arden

• Wearing noise-canceling headphones and listening to ambient rainfall can help individuals get into a state of creative flow.

• Everyone has the potential to become more creative and better at their work, according to Paul Arden's book "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be."

• The book is practical and explores multiple problem-solving strategies for writers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and people in all disciplines.

• The book is easy to read, short, and provides practical takeaways for creative work.

Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward de Bono

• According to Edward de Bono, there are two types of thinking: vertical thinking (everyday thinking) and lateral thinking (looking outside your field or discipline).

• The book describes different prompts and techniques that can be used to engage in lateral thinking.

• The book appeals to writers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and people in all disciplines.

• One great quote from this book: "Problem is simply the difference between what one has and what one wants. Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing that one sees."

Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees by Lawrence Weschler

• No timestamps with bullet points available.

Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch

• David Lynch describes how a daily meditation practice specifically transcendental meditation helps him catch the big fish that is ideas that he can use in his films and in his creative projects.

• The book is quite a short read, but it has been hugely impactful on how the author thinks about the link between meditation, mindset, and the creative process.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

• Rick Rubin believes creativity is a vital aspect of life that can be nurtured and enjoyed by everyone.

• The book recounts how being an artist or a creative is not solely about your output or about how much you ship but rather it's about a deep connection with the world.

The Power of Creativity

In this section, the speaker talks about their own book on creativity called "The Power of Creativity" and how it combines research about the creative process with insights from their own work.

The Book

• The book is called "The Power of Creativity".

• It's a three-part series for writers, artists, musicians, and anyone in search of a great idea.

• The speaker wrote the book about five or six years ago.

• It combines research about the creative process with insights from their own work.

Free Part

• You can get the first part of the book for free on Amazon or by visiting the speaker's site.

• A link to that will be included in the notes below this video.