Books like Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers

01

The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Rick Rubin · Philosophy

The Creative Act is not a how-to book.

Both dig into creativity.

02

The War of Art

Steven Pressfield · Self-help

The War of Art is Steven Pressfield's short, blunt manual for anyone who creates — or wants to create — and finds themselves blocked, procrastinating, or unable to start.

Both dig into creativity.

03

Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert · Self-help

Big Magic is Elizabeth Gilbert's manifesto for living a creative life — not as a professional artistic career but as an orientation toward existence.

Both dig into creativity.

04

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

Daniel J. Levitin · Science

Daniel Levitin came to neuroscience from the music industry — he was a record producer who worked with Stevie Wonder, the Grateful Dead, and Blue Öyster Cult before getting a PhD in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

A kindred self-help read.

05

The Courage to Create

Rollo May · Philosophy

The Courage to Create is Rollo May's sustained argument that creativity is not a talent but an act of courage — specifically, the courage to encounter reality directly, to bring something new into the world against the resistance of both the external environment and one's own anxiety.

Both dig into creativity.

06

Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic

John Hegarty · Business

John Hegarty co-founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982 and spent four decades creating advertising that, at its best, genuinely shifted how people thought about brands.

Shares creativity and creative process with Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers.

07

Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less

Leidy Klotz · Science

Subtract is built on a finding from Leidy Klotz's research at the University of Virginia: when people are asked to improve something, they default overwhelmingly to addition.

Shares creativity and problem-solving with Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers.

08

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering

Richard Hamming · Science

Richard Hamming's book is based on a course he taught at the Naval Postgraduate School in the late 1980s, after a long career at Bell Labs where he made foundational contributions to information theory and computer science — the Hamming distance, Hamming codes, and various contributions to numerical methods all bear his name.

Shares creativity and problem-solving with Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers.

09

Abstract Painting: Concepts and Techniques

Valérie Filiou · Self-help

Abstract Painting is a practical handbook for painters who want to move beyond representation and learn to work with color, form, and gesture on their own terms.

Both dig into creative process.

10

Bird by Bird

Anne Lamott · Self-help

Bird by Bird is Anne Lamott's guide to writing and the creative life, grown from a course she taught at UC Davis and developed over years of writing novels, essays, and journalism.

Both dig into creativity.

11

Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within

Kenny Werner · Self-help

Effortless Mastery is jazz pianist Kenny Werner's account of what he calls "the space" — a state of relaxed, fearless attention that produces music of genuine quality, and that most musicians, including Werner himself for much of his early career, never reliably access.

Both dig into creativity.

12

Everything Is Figureoutable

Marie Forleo · Self-help

Everything Is Figureoutable is Marie Forleo's argument that almost any problem — personal, professional, creative — becomes solvable once you adopt a foundational belief that a solution exists and that you're capable of finding it.

Both dig into problem-solving.