Questlove

A unique new guide to creativity from Questlove—inspirations, stories, and lessons on how to live your best creative life Questlove—musician, bandleader, designer, producer, culinary entrepreneur, professor, and all-around cultural omnivore—shares his wisdom on the topics of inspiration and originality in a one-of-a-kind guide to living your best creative life. In Creative Quest, Questlove synthesizes all the creative philosophies, lessons, and stories he’s heard from the many creators and collaborators in his life, and reflects on his own experience, to advise readers and fans on how to consider creativity and where to find it. He addresses many topics—what it means to be creative, how to find a mentor and serve as an apprentice, the wisdom of maintaining a creative network, coping with critics and the foibles of success, and the specific pitfalls of contemporary culture—all in the service of guiding admirers who have followed his career and newcomers not yet acquainted with his story. Whether discussing his own life or channeling the lessons he’s learned from forefathers such as George Clinton, collaborators like D’Angelo, or like-minded artists including Ava DuVernay, David Byrne, Björk, and others, Questlove speaks with the candor and enthusiasm that fans have come to expect. Creative Quest is many things—above all, a wise and wide-ranging conversation around the eternal mystery of creativity.

Creative Quest

Victoria

This was a book that I really needed as I've been struggling with myself, my art, and my future. So there was a lot from this book that I can take and try to listen to. I really enjoyed the way this book was sectioned off into and it was really helpful. I read it from my school's library but I want to get my own copy to mark it up. I would highly suggest this book if you're stuck in a creative rut or questioning choices for the future.

Matthew Royal

I love Questlove's technique of externalizing his creativity as "influences." How would so and so make this music. How would such and such an artist draw this painting? It makes it so that it's not so much a creative act of your own individual will being aware of technique, and more imitative process that's may be a little bit easier to distance yourself from with your ego. It addresses a creative person’s pressure to have ideas: it’s more how to capture them without being captured by them. How to take them and turn them into things.

“Original" can be a crutch word that people use when they don't understand where something came from. In other words they don't recognize the influences that went into that artist creating that thing. A similar form of creativity identified by Quest love is when you love something in the world so much and you want more of that you decide to make some of it yourself. In this, the imitation is more overt, rather than trying to be 50% Sinatra, 40% Jack White, and 10% your brother.

Other takeaways: 
* There are patterns and links to everything. You have to be open to them. It's more than a metaphor, it's a state. 
* Traditional alertness is the enemy of creativity. Feeling fatigued lets the creative thoughts through.

Joseph

More of an autobiography than anything else. Fun to read, but doesn’t give too much practical advice. It’s about 15-1 stories to advice ratio. Felt more like his biography.

Niels Andersen

René Buchholdt

Wei-Meng Lee

Steve Daniels

Grace

Mikkel Malmberg

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY Esquire • PopSugar • The Huffington Post • Buzzfeed • Publishers Weekly A unique new guide to creativity from Questlove—inspirations, stories, and lessons on how to live your best creative life Questlove—musician, bandleader, designer, producer, culinary entrepreneur, professor, and all-around cultural omnivore—shares his wisdom on the topics of inspiration and originality in a one-of-a-kind guide to living your best creative life. In Creative Quest, Questlove synthesizes all the creative philosophies, lessons, and stories he’s heard from the many creators and collaborators in his life, and reflects on his own experience, to advise readers and fans on how to consider creativity and where to find it. He addresses many topics—what it means to be creative, how to find a mentor and serve as an apprentice, the wisdom of maintaining a creative network, coping with critics and the foibles of success, and the specific pitfalls of contemporary culture—all in the service of guiding admirers who have followed his career and newcomers not yet acquainted with his story. Whether discussing his own life or channeling the lessons he’s learned from forefathers such as George Clinton, collaborators like D’Angelo, or like-minded artists including Ava DuVernay, David Byrne, Björk, and others, Questlove speaks with the candor and enthusiasm that fans have come to expect. Creative Quest is many things—above all, a wise and wide-ranging conversation around the eternal mystery of creativity.

Creative Quest

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