At 405 pages, this book is weighty, but it reads faster than any 400-pager I’ve ever come across. The pages laid out in a way that isn’t densely packed, there are many standalone ideas set off on their own pages like short poems, and it’s paginated recto-style, so every chapter starts on the right-hand page, leaving many blank left-hand pages.
That said, this book will read completely differently if you’re experienced creatively (meaning you’ve already completed one or more large projects) versus if you’re just starting to get in touch with your creativity or you’re curious about what it’s like being a creator and you were attracted by the second half of the title, “A Way of Being.” This book is as much or more about the way of being as it is about how. It is definitely not a “how to” manual or “Creativity for Dummies.” It is a philosophical musing on creativity and creatives with some advice thrown in.
If you’re an experienced or established creator, you’ll find yourself nodding your head many times and thinking, “Yep, I know that feeling,” or “I’ve definitely been there/felt that.” It will read like comfort food or like sitting down for coffee with another creative person and exchanging thoughts. In fact, it was only about halfway through that I thought, “Wait, is the author that Rick Rubin?” I looked it up and sure enough, he’s the same person I know as the producer of the Beastie Boys.
I wouldn’t have thought someone like him would have such a Buddhist-like view of creativity, but I would have been wrong. He really understands the creative process and illuminates it thoroughly. And here’s the slight problem: if you’re already creative, you’ve lived most of this. He does a great job explaining it, but he’s explaining things you’ve already been through and discovered on your own.
For example, you’ll understand this quotation (which I think may be the most important sentence in the entire book) in a way that someone who hasn’t struggled and fought an idea all the way from conception into existence won’t:
Take art seriously without going about it in a serious way.
—Rick Rubin
The other side of it is that if you haven’t, a lot of this book will probably sound mystical and full of woo-woo. If you read it with an open mind, you’ll learn an immense amount. You’ll see that there is a reward for all the hard work you put into your art if you go ahead and do it and stick with it. While creating art is its own reward, like most things in life, success begets success and growth makes room for more growth. You’ll just have to understand and take on faith while you’re reading it that trying to explain the state of creativity as its happening is like trying to explain what flying feels like or what skiing is like while you’re going down the slope. It’s an experience that’s both unique and has a lot of commonalities in the people who do it.
Recommended for experienced creatives for the pleasure of Rubin’s company and for those curious for the insight it can give into minds that are hard to understand, as long as you go into it with an open mind yourself.
If you purchase it through this link, I donate the commission to charity in accordance with my affiliate policy. However, I actually recommend you try getting it through bookshop.org instead and supporting indie bookshops.
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