The Creative Act
The Creative Act by Rick Rubinby Rick Rubin
The most recommended of 4 creativity books
Readers recommend it for reviving forgotten creative ideas and easing side-project struggles. One reader says the ideas are general.
Readers recommend it for reviving forgotten creative ideas and easing side-project struggles. One reader says the ideas are general.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recommended as a creativity resource
“For more on this I recommend Rubin's The Creative Act.”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “Maybe you should learn something” “This why I love HN, my next book will be creative act”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?”
Other creativity books people recommend
The three most recommended other creativity books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Creative Actby Rick RubinThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
| Improby Keith Johnstone | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| The Artist's Wayby Julia Cameron | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Art & Fearby David Bayles and Ted Orland | 4 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the ideas are general, I enjoyed it”
“For more on this I recommend Rubin's The Creative Act.”
“it reminded me of a lot of things that I had forgotten while making me hold space for those ideas related to creativity”
“an artist trying and failing to talk about science”
“May help your relationship with side projects.”
“This why I love HN, my next book will be creative act”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.