“If I had to condense this entire book into a line or two, it would read something like ‘work hard, keep at it, live simply and quietly, remain humble, stay positive, create your own luck, be nice, be polite’”
-Hugh MacLeod, “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity”
I just finished listening to Hugh MacLeod’s new book, “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys To Creativity” (read about it on Sety Godin’s blog). I got the audiobook because it was cheaper than the print version and, at a little over 2 hours long, only took two days to finish on my commute to/from work.
Short version of the review: Good advice, but not too impressed with the uniquness of the content or delivery.
MacLeod gives excellent advice on how to be creative and how to make a living doing it. The book gets authenticity points since he drew from his own experiences trying to make it as a young creative in NYC and other cities. My favorite piece of advice was the urgence to keep your day job while working on your creativity, as it a) provides a steady stream of income and b) takes some of the pressure off of being an “instant success” with your creative gig.
My biggest turnoffs to the book were the cynical tone and the language. The tone may have just been the narrator’s interpretation, so I’m not gonna hold that against MacLeod (at least not TOO much). The content was good, there just wasn’t a lot of stuff I hadn’t heard before. As for the language, it’s just a matter of taste. Being authentic is key to being creative, and MacLeod would have been wrong to censor himself just to get more readers. The language (and an off-color Christianity joke) does, however, prevent me from recommending the book to a lot of my peers. To each his own…
If you want to check it out for yourself, buy Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Next Friday, I’ll be reviewing “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Make sure to check it out!
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