3.5 estrellas

Es una lectura interesante y una mirada fresca sobre la creatividad y el arte. Noté muchos paralelismos con "Effortless Mastery" el cual cita Free Play en sus fuentes. Creo que la lectura de este libro puede ayudar a cualquiera que tenga en mayor o menor medida algún tipo de bloqueo o miedo a crear arte, sea como hobbie o profesional. La premisa básica es recuperar al niño que fuimos y poder hacer arte sin prejuicios ni miedos.

Por momentos lo sentí un poco demasiado poético; hubiera sido interesante que el autor ahonde en algunas herramientas más concretas. En ese sentido "Effortless Mastery" propone algunas herramientas de práctica hacia el final del libro, aunque es verdad que ese libro tiene un enfoque más en la música y no tanto en el arte en general.

The most comprehensive book on creativity and improvisation. This will truly unlock the child-like creativity in all of us :)

It took me WAY to long to pick up and finish this book which is a crime because it is SO good. I really appreciate the breadth of art forms from the formal to the everyday that are included when discussing the topic of improvisation. There were a lot of great nuggets but one moment reading this book I will always remember. I was in the waiting area with the other dance parents during Meredith's dance lesson and the author was talking about how our everyday language is a form of improvisation in that it is possible you are putting words together in a way that they've never been put together before. And yet, he also points out that we tend to fall back on some many cliches in our language that much of what we say is completely uninspired. I put the book down and was astounded to hear the same old mundane phrases being uttered over and over, occasionally interrupted by something truly original. I've always liked wordplay and so it is no wonder that I tend to smile when I hear words strung together in a novel way.

This book is also playing nicely with another I just picked up again called "Why I Read" so I'm enjoying how they worked well together.

Thick with references to Zen Buddhism, Taoism, mysticism and Christianity - Free Play shows us that the creative process is a spiritual path. There were moments I thought Nachmanovitch overelaborated with metaphors, but many more times when he took my breath away with deep insight.

I enjoyed this book. I don't think there was anything seriously groundbreaking in here or any revelations that occurred to me upon first read, but I admit that I liked reading the ideas in here. I liked how a lot of it was tied to much of eastern philosophy and how a lot of our supposedly "modern" ideas of improvisation and play have been around for thousands of years. I suppose it's nice because a lot of it feels new to us. The thing that I most took away from the book is to just enjoy playing, and I think that is the crux of it. There is a lot that you can do with art and instruments, but there is a pretty pure happiness that comes out of being able to toy with it in a way that pleases you. It's quite nice. I've long been into improvised drumming and a lot of what this book discusses draws a straight line to what I want to accomplish with my playing. Improvising a phrase and being able to carry it over and bounce it around is such an amazing feeling and a skill that takes a lifetime to develop. Overall, I recommend this to anyone who plays an instrument. It might not change your life, but it will certainly open you up to "playing" and improvisation if that is not something that you already enjoy or practice.

A very erudite and heady book that helps an artist release their imagination. You can read one chapter kind of like a creative bible and then do whatever art form you are involved with, drawing inspiration from your reading. Each chapter is self-contained and can be read on it's own.

Excellent little book about freeing up your creativity whether in music, painting, or writing. Reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which I read many years ago. It has many quotes and some illustrations.

One of my favorite books. I've reread it several times, and referred to it often. An inspiring reminder of what it means to be awake to the moment and to receive its possibilities with gratitude and imagination.

Did not get interesting until the middle, where there were some concrete suggestions on how to play around with limits, the interplay between creativity and judgement.

The beginning and the end of the book are weakest, in my opinion. They are filled with too much pseudo-spiritual riffs, or get off track with rants against mainstream society, neither of which did much for me.

All that said, I still think it was a worthwhile read for what was there regarding improvisation.

Um livro surpreendente. Imaginava, de antemão, que falaria unicamente sobre ser criativo e improvisar. No entanto, o autor lança mão de diversas fontes e referências de forma a transpor inúmeras pérolas de sabedoria sobre estar vivo e criar. O autor integra o processo criativo ao processo de amadurecimento do ser humano. Indiscutivelmente se vê que estudou muito e se debruçou pelos caminhos da arte, do saber e da criação. É de uma estrutura tenaz, propícia para reflexão. Denso na medida certa, nem demais, nem de menos. Li o livro em um dia, fato que não me ocorria há muito tempo, tamanho interesse me despertou. Indicado!

A million stars. I’m not even kidding.
I cannot express how utterly mesmerising this has been. I just know I will read it several times in my life. It is a rare and fine work of writing—just the right words, the right pace, no superfluous sentences or chapters or passages. Just enough, to express the inexpressible. Seriously, this is my new bible. No amount of words or turns of phrases could express my astonishment and reverence for this book.

a good prespective about the creative process. however, it felt a bit like a too romanticized ideia, it gave me the sensation that almost everything in art must be about pleasure. At times I felt that I was doing all wrong because creation in me is sometimes truly painful. It is a good book, it is the opinion of a person about improvisation and about art and of course with value.