This is by far the best book I’ve read on creativity. Written by Rick Rubin, a famous music producer, this book comes from someone who understands what it is to be creative.

All of us are creative, but few of us realise it. In this book Rubin offers insights into how to tune in, how to recognise ideas and how to work on them. Always, I enjoyed his writing because it all comes from a place of understanding that everything is fluid, nothing is ever complete, that there are always ideas being presented to us, and it all mostly stems from working on one’s own awareness and trusting and sensing one’s own intuition.

I particularly enjoyed his sections on ‘how to move on from work you’ve completed’, and more so his thoughts about art related competitions. I was relieved, but not surprised to find that Rubin is more focussed on the truth that we create art for ourselves, and often it is the creating of it, rather than the final results that matter the most.

Never judgemental of others acts, he prefers to focus on how one can tap into their own creativity citing for instance that Picasso preferred to paint when he had music, the tv and the radio on at the same time. EMINEM is another artist that can only write lyrics when he has a tv on in the background for company. I know also, that when printing in his analog darkroom, Michael Kenna prefers to listen to audiobooks. Knowing this about these artists surprised me because I prefer silence, but everyone has to find the environment that works for them.

This book is pretty much how I see creativity. I have always preferred to focus more on the internal / philosophical side of creativity, rather than the ‘how to’. This is what Rick Rubin does best in this book.

Creativity is always more a case of finding one’s way through the work. It is also about learning to trust one’s own hunches, and to change one’s mind if something better presents itself.

For me, reading this book was more a confirmation and I often found myself saying to myself ‘that’s right’ when he states something that I have always deeply known, or innately understood to be true.

A copy of this book should be on every creative’s bookshelf.