“Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon

Finished on Monday, February 14, 2022

Why this book?

This book has come up a few different times in a few different mediums I consume – podcast, blogs, etc. In the end I found myself watching a video of Austin Kleon and ended up going, “Okay. It’s time to read his book(s).” (If you’ll note the “s” there, I currently have one of his books checked out digitally and the other two physically from our local book lending institution.) Ironically enough I also remember seeing his “Steal Like An Artist Journal” on one (a few of my) journal/notebook buying journeys, I just didn’t connect it until after reading the book.

This one very much was one of those where the title/cover catches you. I’ve considered/referenced the “good artists borrow; great artists steal” quote for years. But it was the ways people were able to apply his perspectives across the different roles in their lives that kept the book on my “Need to Read” List.

Rating: 4/5

This book is solid. It doesn’t try to be more than it is. I don’t know his whole story. But you get the sense that he is a guy who loves his work. He’s had ups, he’s had downs. He found things that were useful to him. He told his story to a few people who told him to tell it to more people who kept asking him to share it so he did. He doesn’t pretend to know the answer to every question.

One thing I love is that in the “epilogue” of sorts he lists out notecards (what the ideas for the book started as) that didn’t make the cut.

I learned …

It’s okay to not have everything figured out when you start. This is one of those things I tell other people all the time, especially in my current job. But it is something incredibly had for me to live out myself. We’ll see if I can live that lesson. But I appreciated his perspectives and approaches.

His articulation that there really is nothing new. He quotes Andre Gide who said, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” Kleon goes on to say, “If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.” I really do trip up over this all the time. But we really don’t know what we have to offer that someone may need to hear. And we may be the person in the time and place they can and/or need to hear it from.

There are a lot of other really good things here. And it isn’t a difficult read.

I would recommend this for …

Knowledge workers. I mentioned it above, but I heard reference to this book from a lot of folks across a lot of different roles. Most all of them did some type of content creation. But at first blush I wouldn’t call it all “art”. Hence my encouragement for knowledge workers to read it. Because we are still creating on a daily basis. Whether is content or code, planning a project or presentation, and so on, there is an output we are responsible for. It is all too easy to find a rhythm that is seemingly effective. But it can rob us of the opportunity that some of the perspectives in this book encourage be considered. I know for me it seemed to jog loose some things that weren’t necessarily wrong, but were worth taking an intentional look at with a different perspective.

Content creators. This goes without saying. But similar to the thought on knowledge workers – there are jobs or roles that create, but don’t feel like art. It’s worth reading through the perspectives and approaches in this book and consider where they could provide benefit. I’m confident there would be enough benefit that would warrant the time you’d spend reading the book.

P.S.

If you’re interested, you can buy the book on Amazon. You can find out more about Autin Kleon and his work at AustinKleon.com.