The title for this post comes from Chapter 6 of Austin Kleon's bestseller Steal Like an Artist. In this, and his follow-up book Show Your Work, Kleon presents what he describes as a collage of ideas on how to make great art. He does so with a remarkably easy style, and a clarity of thought that presumably belies the effort that went into constructing two books that are both richly informative and miniature works of art in themselves. In my view both books have a great deal to say not just to artists, but to scientists as well.
Steal like an Artist and Show Your Work are successful collages not just in an artistic sense (both books are visually characterised by informal pen drawings, 'newpaper blackout' poems, Kleon's signature artform, and artistic photographs) but also in their writing, which is a patchwork of anecdotes, quotations and references that all relate to one another in a messy but pleasingly textural way. In a sense, the appeal of these books is that Kleon takes his own medicine – they are chock full of ideas collected ('stolen') from other minds, rather like the old notion of a commonplace book.
I don't want to recapitulate the two books entirely – I really recommend reading them yourself instead, they are well worth having in physical copy so you can cover them with your own notes – but I do want briefly to pull out a few ideas which have been especially influential for me:
First, Kleon makes a general point that many of the ideas in his books started as tweets, were later expanded into blog posts and finally became chapters in the books. The idea of starting small and interatively expanding until you have whole books worth of material strikes me as a really useful strategy for any writer.
This relates to a more specific point he makes in Show Your Work, that one should aim to turn process into product (or, in business speak, turn 'flow' into 'stock'). Rather than waiting for a piece of work (paper, book or artwork) to be completely finished, one should share the works in progress: the inspiration at the beginning, the reading material and the scraps from the cutting room floor. People are engaged not by mindless sharing but specifically by the little tidbits of work that allow them to understand who you are and what you do.
Finally, these two books, Steal Like an Artist and Share Your Work, were really instrumental in what is now a strongly held belief of mine, that art and science are really very similar, if not precisely the same, kind of intellectual activity. The role of creativity in science is entirely underappreciated, as is the value of good communication (not just formal writing but also more informally engaging and building a community that supports your work). Like art, science is really a kind of conversation, with oneself and with other scientists – conjecture and refutation, Popper called it. In a sense Kleon's two books, ostensibly about making art, map exactly onto the scientific method: show your work, and then take from and respond to others. Conjecture and refutation.
Other ideas that especially appealed to me, ordered more or less at random:
The secret is, quite simply –"do good work... make stuff every day" and then "share it with people"
"Write the books you want to read"
"The best way to vanquish your enemies on the internet? Ignore them. The best way to make friends on the Internet? Say nice things about them"
"Teach what you know" – don't hoard your knowledge or you'll never influence anyone. Likewise your readers will often have a great deal to teach you too – don't miss out on this.