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Steal Like An Artist

By: Austin Kleon - Read: September 26, 2024 - Rating: 7/10

The book is about creativity. And how to find creativity in our age of GPT's and Claudes. The author Kleon organizes the insights around 10 lessons on creativity. And he is pushing one idea forward: any creativity comes from past exposure and nothing is original. And (if ever) if something is original then it is our thinking that is the original thing about the entire process--the input going through our minds and becoming and output.

This explains the title of the book: "stealing." Kleon says (because nothing is original) we have to steal. But stealing is not like plagiarising. You can still "steal" ideas. But you need to bring thinking to the equation. Coying alone is still stealing.

A great manifesto and practical handbook on spurring creativity. Coupled with On Writing Well and Several Short Sentences about Writing, this book becomes a real weapon for a careful reader.