There is so much fear associated with performing, creating, or expressing any artistic endeavor. Langer holds up a mirror to these fears by describing many scientifically based experiments that reveal where the real problems lie:
1. Being critical of others prevents us from being vulnerable enough to be moved by something unique and wonderful. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable makes artistic expression more meaningful.
2. Assumptions about "prodigies," "talent," and "real" art, are often based on one experience, or one comment we may have overheard. The people we compare ourselves to may not claim to be any more of an expert than we are.
I am completely inspired by this book! Perhaps if enough people let go of their critical, doubtful selves and begin expressing themselves artistically, they would begin to understand how invaluable the arts are. Rather than talking about the arts as a core subject in schools, books like this convince me that "the basics" and all of general education would gain tremendously by learning from the arts.
I bought this book with high hopes that it would contain some good advice about creating. It has some, but Langer surrounds it with a limp, academic prose that is at times painful to read. Langer uses the communal "We" throughout the book, which I find irritating and distracting.
Langer also relies heavily on personal anecdotes to illustrate her points, and many of them leave the reader wondering whether she could have found better examples.
I expected more from this book, considering that the author works as a Harvard professor of psychology.
The main points of this book are:
1. Pay attention to what you are doing when you are doing it.
2. Don't evaluate your work or let the evaluations of others interfere.
3. Welcome mistakes as learning opportunities.
4. Become comfortable with uncertainty.
A much more interesting book to read instead of this one is The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp, a well-known choreographer who provides anecdotes from her career, ideas about the creative life, and practical exercises in an entertaining and attractive format.
