Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Rating: 8/10

Is it ok to steal someone’s ideas? Someone’s art? Yes (as long as you do it right).

This is the main question answered in the short book “Steal Like an Artist.”

As a new YouTuber, and blogger, I certainly draw my inspiration from others. At certain times I may be even copying them, but I think I am putting my own spin on it. Making it Zach’s.

What I Learned

One of my favorite passages from the books is:

Marcel Duchamp said, “I don’t believe in art. I believe in artists.” This is actually a pretty good method for studying— if you try to devour the history of your discipline all at once, you’ll choke.

Instead, chew on one thinker — writer, artist, activites, role model—-you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Clim up the tree as far as you can go. Once you build your tree, it’s time to start your own branch.

Start your branch!

The 10 rules (chapters) are below. I have bolded my favorite three. These really are the main points and so I will end my review here. Like the Book, my review is short.

-Zach

1. Steal like an Artist
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started
3. Write the book you want to read
4. Use your hands
5. Side projects and hobbies are important
6. The Secret: Do good work and share it with people
7. Geography is no longer our master
8. Be Nice. (The world is a small town.)
9. Be boring. (it’s the only way to get work done.)
10. Creativity is Subtraction

Quotes I Like

• Write the book you want to read
• Enjoy your obscurity, use it to learn, have fun
• Don’t complain, create, be nice to others on the internet and ignore the hate