Biography · Similar reads
Books like Making Movies
The best books like Making Movies are Outliers: The Story of Success, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, and Deep Work. Making Movies by Sidney Lumet is about filmmaking, craft and process, storytelling. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Outliers: The Story of Success
01
Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology
Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that exceptional success is less a product of individual genius or drive than it is of hidden advantages, timing, and accumulated opportunity.
A kindred biography read.
Read the summary → - Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
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Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
David Epstein · Science
Range is David Epstein's argument against the ten-thousand-hours gospel.
A kindred biography read.
Read the summary → - Deep Work
03
Cal Newport · Self-help
Deep Work is Cal Newport's case that the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task is becoming both rarer and more valuable, and that people who cultivate it will thrive while everyone else stays stuck in shallow busywork.
A kindred biography read.
Read the summary → - Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Angela Duckworth · Psychology
Duckworth's central claim is that talent is overrated.
A kindred biography read.
Read the summary → - On Directing Film
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David Mamet · Philosophy
On Directing Film is David Mamet's account of lectures he gave at Columbia University's film school, transcribed and lightly edited into a short, blunt book about the craft of directing.
Shares filmmaking and storytelling with Making Movies.
Read the summary → - The Man Who Knew Infinity
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Robert Kanigel · Biography
Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in 1887 in the South Indian town of Erode into a Brahmin family of modest means, received almost no formal mathematical training, and by his mid-twenties had filled notebooks with thousands of mathematical formulas, many of them original results that professional mathematicians would spend decades verifying.
Both dig into collaboration.
Read the summary → - Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
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Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
Neal Gabler · Biography
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination is Neal Gabler's authorized biography, drawing on Disney's personal papers and company archives that had been closed to researchers for decades.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
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George Saunders · Philosophy
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is George Saunders's account of the graduate fiction workshop he has taught at Syracuse for over twenty years, organized around seven stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, and Gogol.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - Adventures in the Screen Trade
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Adventures in the Screen Trade
William Goldman · Memoir
William Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, and The Princess Bride, among many others.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - All Marketers Are Liars
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Seth Godin · Business
All Marketers Are Liars — later republished as All Marketers Tell Stories — is Seth Godin's argument that successful marketing is not about facts or features but about stories that confirm what consumers already believe about the world.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary → - Articulating Design Decisions
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Tom Greever · Business
Articulating Design Decisions addresses a gap that most design education ignores: knowing how to make good decisions is necessary but not sufficient.
Both dig into collaboration.
Read the summary → - Building a StoryBrand
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Donald Miller · Business
Building a StoryBrand is Donald Miller's argument that most companies fail at marketing because they communicate from the wrong perspective.
Both dig into storytelling.
Read the summary →
Books like Making Movies: quick answers
What are the best books like Making Movies?
The best books like Making Movies by Sidney Lumet are Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, Deep Work by Cal Newport, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, On Directing Film by David Mamet, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Making Movies, such as filmmaking, craft and process, storytelling.
What should I read after Making Movies?
A natural next read after Making Movies is Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. A kindred biography read. Other strong choices are Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, Deep Work by Cal Newport, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth.
What books are similar to Making Movies by Sidney Lumet?
Making Movies centers on filmmaking, craft and process, storytelling. Books with a similar feel include Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, Deep Work by Cal Newport, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, On Directing Film by David Mamet, The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
