Weekly newsletter: The reader is the musician of the book

This week: gardens where ideas grow, Prince, a modest guide to productivity, good TV, and more...

This week: gardens where ideas grow, Prince, a modest guide to productivity, good TV, and more... View this email in your browser. Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:  "The reader is the musician of the book."   I finished Duane Tudahl's Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions and made a 5-hour Spotify playlist of the songs Prince recorded from 1983-1984.     The gardens where ideas grow.   This interview with Jaron Lanier sums up a lot about Silicon Valley. I look forward to reading his next book, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.   Frank Chimero's modest guide to productivity.   When people ask Audrey Watters what ed-tech she actually likes, she says 70s public TV like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, "based in research, a respect for children, equity, and love." Love that. (The Fred Rogers company produces two of our favorite kid shows right now: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Peg + Cat.)   As for grown-up TV: I can't get enough of Atlanta: Robbin' Season. It's been so good it's bumped The Americans and become my favorite show. (When one of those isn't available, I've been enjoying catching up on Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, especially S5:E2, the Miami episode featuring Iggy Pop wisdom.     A nice profile of my friend Alan Jacobs, author of, among many other books, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and How To Think.   Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn, on the joy and sorrow of rereading one of my favorite books, John Holt's How Children Learn. (My notes, here.) I enjoy periodically checking in on Gray's column in Psychology Today. Also recommended: Why calling the president childish is disrespectful to children.    I'm deep into writing my next book right now (more on that soon!), so I'm easing up off social media, but I'm still blogging every day. Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend, buy a book, or tweet me some love.  If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin Austin Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist and other books. Subscribe to this newsletter Follow me elsewhere: Twitter Instagram Tumblr Copyright © 2018 Austin Kleon, All rights reserved. You're receiving this newsletter because you signed up for it at www.austinkleon.com My mailing address is: Austin Kleon 4301 W. William Cannon Dr. Suite B 150 #241 Austin, Texas 78749 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Weekly newsletter: Picture of my brain

This week: how to answer the phone, six seasons, radical zines, Prince, and more... 

This week: how to answer the phone, six seasons, radical zines, Prince, and more... View this email in your browser. Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:  The best thing I read this week was cartoonist Eleanor Davis' You & a Bike & a Road, a beautiful chronicle of a bike ride from her parents' house in Tuscon to her home in Georgia. I remember watching it unfold live on Twitter, but it's so wonderful in book form. Do read it, then check out her other books: How To Be Happy and Why Art?   Kurt Vonnegut on the six seasons.   When my first son was born, all my brain could handle was reading collections of Nancy comics. The years keep being kind to Nancy: last year we got How To Read Nancy, and now, for the first time in 85 years, Nancy is being drawn by a woman. (Read the new strips here.)   Letter to an aspiring intellectual. (Many of these tips could cover the life of writers and artists.)   An online collection of radical zines. (You know I love zines.)   I'm reading Duane Tudahl's Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions, and it's probably not for everyone, but for a recording geek like me, it's irresistible. (I really can't get enough stories about musicians in the studio.) It's taking me back to my young days, reading Beatlesongs and The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. (PS. The B-sides on the deluxe edition of Purple Rain are so incredible. And watch the newly-released video for "Nothing Compares 2 U"!)   Love this line from a profile of David Hockney: "He says when he stands at the easel and paints he feels 30 years old." (See also Lawrence Wechler on Hockney's "Improbable Inspirations." His books on Hockney and Robert Irwin are great.)   The pain of coming up with titles.   I enjoyed Frank Chimero's nerdy rundown of his system for listening to music. (I do something similar on Spotify.)   Life hacks (ha!): How to answer the phone and walking on the phone. Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend, buy a book, or tweet me some love.  If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin Austin Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist and other books. Subscribe to this newsletter Follow me elsewhere: Twitter Instagram Tumblr Copyright © 2018 Austin Kleon, All rights reserved. You're receiving this newsletter because you signed up for it at www.austinkleon.com My mailing address is: Austin Kleon 4301 W. William Cannon Dr. Suite B 150 #241 Austin, Texas 78749 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Weekly newsletter: The creative process (illustrated by a 3-year-old)

This week: drawing what it's like to make art, the magic of walking, and more...

This week: drawing what it's like to make art, the magic of walking, and more... View this email in your browser. Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:  My kids helped me illustrate the creative process. (More kid posts: Embroidering your mistakes and how families grow in complexity.)   Last week I mentioned how much I liked Frederic Gros's A Philosophy of Walking. This week I read Rebecca Solnit's Wanderlust: A History of Walking and her essay about woods and libraries, Garnette Cadogan's wonderful essays, "Walking While Black" and "Due North," Thich Nhat Hahn's How To Walk, and a very interesting little book of diaries and haiku by Taneda Santoka, For All My Walking.    Answering the question, "Who has time for that?"   I happily blurbed Jez Burrows' Dictionary Stories as a "brilliant literary remix." But don't take my word for it: Booklist said the book is "Perfect for fans of Austin Kleon." (Hope they say that about my next book!)      Why I stick clippings in my books.   Some good Show Your Work! material: a peek at the process behind Tom Gauld's musical New Yorker cover and longing for the days of DVD extras.   Molly Ringwald on The Breakfast Club.    Ear candy: a Quaker podcast of silence, Dvořák's "Humoresque," and pianist Leon Fleisher's Two Hands. (I originally read about him in Reinventing Bach — this short documentary about the loss of his right hand is worth watching. At the very least, watch him play Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze.")   To stay sane, save the news headlines for later. (Remember: you can be woke without waking up to the news.)   Feeding off the trolls, or: how to profit from your enemies.  Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend, buy a book, or tweet me some love.  If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin PS. I was delighted to see Newspaper Blackout shelved next to Bill Knott's I Am Flying Into Myself at Bookpeople here in Austin, TX. (You can buy all my books signed and personalized from them — they ship everywhere!) Austin Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist and other books. Subscribe to this newsletter Follow me elsewhere: Twitter Instagram Tumblr Copyright © 2018 Austin Kleon, All rights reserved. You're receiving this newsletter because you signed up for it at www.austinkleon.com My mailing address is: Austin Kleon 4301 W. William Cannon Dr. Suite B 150 #241 Austin, Texas 78749 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences