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Several people I know are publishing books this year and the first to cross my desk as a reviewers copy is Hugh MacLeod’s Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity. This book has hopefully prepared me well for the others as I found it’s very hard to objectively review a book that you know a friend has poured a lot of time and effort in to. Hugh had a bit of a head start in that Ignore Everybody is based of his very successful How To Be Creative manifesto but nonetheless, the book writing process is a daunting task and I admire what he and others friends have done/are doing.

I’ve had this book for a few months as it happens and though I have a pile of other books on my desk I read the entire book the evening it arrived. I’m generally a slow reader but I finished the 150 some pages in a few hours and if you take out the pages with cartoons, there’s probably more like 90 pages of text. To get an idea you can download two PDF sample chapters.

Kris has recently reviewed the book too and I agree with him that that it’s smart and funny. It’s also dark and that’s one thing I like about the book – you get to know Hugh a little more. For anyone who follows his blog or even more so has spent time with Hugh you know he’s a super smart guy who can be hard to fathom at times. What I think you find at times is something that is very autobiographical. On the surface, a good deal of Hugh’s life is in this book but there is also plenty under the surface too. For those who have wondered where some of his cartoons are coming from, you’ll probably find some answers in here with tales from Scotland, New York, the ad industry and blogging.

Chapter 27 is titled “Write From The Heart” which is what you find Hugh does on his blog. I wish I had the same balls at times. My favourite chapter, the one that talked to me most is #3 “Put The Hours In” where Hugh says:

 

Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort and stamina

 

Dead right.

it also ties in nicely to Chapter #8 “Keep Your Day Job” where Hugh explains his Sex and Cash theory and a number of others chapters deal with the notion of power and why the smart folks assume it, rather than ask for it.

There are some parts I didn’t necessarily agree with such as Beware Of Turning Hobbies in to Jobs – though only if you take it completely literally. It’s fine to have your hobby as a job, just as long as you have more than one hobby. I imagine many golfers or racing drivers got in to their gig as their hobby and are quite satisfied.

I think what I like most about the book though is it’s one of those books you can keep coming back to for inspiration. You can dip in to the Hugh well anytime just by opening a page and either reading a cartoon that makes the 140 characters of Twitter seem verbose or by reading one of the short chapters. It reminded me of a friend who regularly dips in to one particular book as a source of great inspiration.

One friend who had a look at the book admired the way Hugh is able to capture (and say) what most of us already know in one small cartoon. What you get here is the the longer version of the messages in those cartoons…the explanations that inspire many of them if you like.

In summary, what you get is a peek in to Hugh MacLeod’s world – one that is slightly mysterious, funny, smart, dark and smack you in the face obvious as soon as you read it. Isn’t that the secret to many a great book? It just reminds you what you knew already, and if you didn’t you can now say you did.

Buy it. You won’t be disappointed. Even better, buy a few and leave them as cube grenades…that’s my plan.   

 

Oh check out a couple of other reviews as I’m biased…but the good news is others like it too so far!

ps – thanks to the nice folks at Penguin for the advance copy