5 Books to Spark Creativity
When I am not building cool stuff at Option C, I am mostly reading. For real. Cozies, coffee, cats, couch. That's the dream. Another dream I have always held on to is owning a bookstore. I know this is not a very original dream but it has been with me since I first saw my favorite movie of all time, You've Got Mail. Kathleen Kelly is my gurl!
Maybe someday I will retire and spend my golden years in some coastal town selling books and minding the shop cat. Until then, allow me to live out my dream in a small way and recommend some books!
Today's recommendations are all about creativity. Creativity is one of our core values so we work hard to keep the tap flowing. Sometimes inspiration is hard to come by so I look to certain books to spark ideas. Here are five that I return to often when I need a hit of creative motivation:
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
Of course. This has become a sort of bible to the creative soul since it's publication in 2023. This book is a meditative wellspring of Rubin's thoughts on creativity and art in all of it's forms. While the physical copy is beautiful, I first listened to it in audiobook form with Rubin reading. There was something about his deep, slow voice that was almost trancelike and I felt he was reading to me directly.
The beauty of this book is that every chapter can stand alone as a sort of creative devotional that you can dip in and out of as you need. I have never come away from a reading without feeling completely empowered to create anything and everything. We are all artists!
Beauty by Sagmeister & Walsh
This is simply a book on...Beauty. Why we are drawn to it, what it is, what it means, and how it can change the world. It's highly visual and full of imagery that's, you guessed it, beautiful. Sometimes I just flip through it like a child with a picture book and allow new things to reach out and speak to me. It's BEAUTIFUL!
The Artist's Way & The Listening Path by Julia Cameron
The Artist's Way is a longtime classic and the birthplace of Morning Pages. Morning Pages is a practice of daily journaling that many people swear by as a tool for reflection, growth, and inspiration. I have tried to do it but I have never quite developed the habit in a consistent way. I envy those that live by them. Maybe someday. In the meantime, I find the book to be a great tool to cultivate creativity in day-to-day life.
The Listening Path is a more recent book/workbook to help deepen listening and mindfulness. We all struggle with true listening skills and this book is designed to help us learn how to do it just a bit better. Listening is a real superpower in our distracted world so I think it's worth the time to try and strengthen the muscle.
Both of these come in the form of a workbook to help enhance the experience through writing and reflection.
Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman
"At once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterlives—each presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves in the here and now." That Goodreads quote sums it up well (pun intended). These speculative stories about the afterlife always make me think about how I am living my current life. I am always blow away by the wild ideas and they open up my world to new perspectives.
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
I am fascinated by metacognition and understanding how we humans think. Dobelli presents a wide range of mental models and cognitive biases to help us grasp our own minds. Once you understand these concepts, it is easier to see how you limit or constrain your thinking, which, in turn, provides a blueprint for how to think better. Thinking clearly always clears the path to creativity for me. I bet it will for you too.
I hope these spark something for you and if you have other books that fuel your creativity, please share! In the age of AI, tapping into our human creativity has never been more important!
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