The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick RubinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
On a purely physical level, this is a beautiful book. It is bound well, the cover has texture, the built in ribbon as a bookmark reminds me of old books I used to own. It has heft and weight, and it feels good to hold. It is, physically, a book that I enjoyed having with me.
The content itself is far too light. It is short chapters that lack the punch to justify their length. It's clear that Rick Rubin is a man who knows something about the creative process, it's just frustrating that he refuses to tell us in 400 sparsely populated pages of vague statements with scattered gems. I wish this book had more exercises, a more coherent analysis of rules in the creative process, a proper chapter on the financial pressure and how it inhibits art. Even in the glimpses we get, there are hints of value.
But not enough. The book is a bit of a disappointment, in part because it so clearly has the potential to be so much more than it is.
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