Austin Kleon’s ‘Steal Like an Artist’

I read this adorable little book about creativity in one day — and got probably dozens of ideas from it, so that is some serious practical worth-per-minute. Kleon, a writer and artist, walks you through “10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” in short bursts with lots of charming illustrations. The title of the book is also the first of the 10 Things — i.e., nothing is truly original, so art is knowing how to “steal” someone else’s stuff and make it your own. Other tips include: “Write the book you want to read,” “Side projects and hobbies are important,” and “Be nice.” Inspired by this book, I made a “creative family tree” of my own influences and their influences, which gave me new reasons to revisit Woody Allen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Peter Biskind, and Pauline Kael. Steal Like an Artist also made me want to play the guitar more, blog more, go to the library, and write about a bunch of stuff in my life that I haven’t gotten around to writing about yet. Totally worth the day it takes to blow through it, and you’ll have loads of other (fun) things to do for days to come.