The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery - Hardcover

Lewis, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007445423 ISBN 13: 9780007445424

Publisher: William Collins, 2014

Synopsis

An inspiring book about what it means to be human as we struggle for mastery in our various spheres.

From celebrated art historian, curator, and teacher Sarah Lewis, a fascinating examination of how our most iconic creative endeavours―from innovation to the arts―are not achievements but conversions, corrections after failed attempts.

The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. The Rise―part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit―makes the case that many of the world’s greatest achievements have come from understanding the central importance of failure.

Written over the course of four years, this exquisite biography of an idea is about the improbable foundations of a creative human endeavour. Each chapter focuses on the inestimable value of often ignored ideas―the power of surrender, how play is essential for innovation, the “near win” can help propel you on the road to mastery, the importance of grit and creative practice. The Rise shares narratives about figures past and present that range from choreographers, writers, painters, inventors, and entrepreneurs; Frederick Douglass, Samuel F.B. Morse, Diane Arbus, and J.K. Rowling, for example, feature alongside choreographer Paul Taylor, Nobel Prize–winning physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, and Arctic explorer Ben Saunders.

About this title

Review:

‘Lewis's voice is so lyrical and engaging that her book, "The Rise", can be read in one sitting’ ‘The New York Times’

‘Sarah Lewis has assembled a rich trove of reflections not just on creativity but on the too-often ignored role that failure and surrender play in almost any ambitious undertaking. That counter-intuitive point of attack makes ‘’The Rise’’ a welcome departure from standard accounts of artistry and innovation’ Lewis Hyde, author of ‘The Gift’

‘The Rise provides a map across the chasms of self-doubt that separate even the brightest, most ambitious people from success. Sarah Lewis’s keen and generous insights will convince you that dead ends can have a dazzling afterlife, that failure can provide the impetus and the freedom to find mastery, innovation, even genius’ Andrew Solomon, author of ‘Far from the Tree’

‘Like Malcolm Gladwell, Sarah Lewis brilliantly takes complex ideas and makes them easy to follow, making it possible for us to see the world in a brand-new way’ Edwidge Danticat, author of ‘Create Dangerously’

About the Author:

Sarah Lewis has served on President Obama’s Arts Policy Committee, been selected for Oprah’s ‘Power List’, and is a Critic at the Yale University School of Art in the MFA program. She is also an active curator, having held positions at both Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art. Her writing on contemporary art has been published extensively. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, an M.Phil. from Oxford University, and will receive her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2014. She lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Collins
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0007445423
• ISBN 13: 9780007445424
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272