This book promises something yet it gives you non of it. I still gave it a chance but it was only a brief of what certain painitngs are, without a lot of insights: “we see a yellow background and blue sky”. Not only that but most featured artists are white man, which leaves you thinking, if there are many woman and poc artists why not include at least a few of them?

A great coffee table book with backgrounds for many pieces of art around the globe. I still don't quite think that the title matches the content, but it was a good hook to start reading. This work would be a good conversation starter at a party and thensome.

I found it very difficult to finish reading this book. I would put it down and go paint. It was not the book that inspired me to create.

This is not what I thought it would be. I was expecting lessons. Facts. Advice. Something far from what I read. This novel, or should I call it coffee table book, seems to be no more that someone’s art blog. Thoughts on different art works. Some paragraphs don’t even feel like complete thoughts, just musings. It’s as if someone was reading an actual novel and wrote notes as they read and then just published the notes instead of the novel. I enjoyed the dialogue but didn’t leave my feeling fully satisfied. Needs more meat. There were a few insightful, quirky observations, but overall I felt like I was reading through a high school group project PowerPoint.

An interesting idea that fails due to unclear purpose. The title of THINK LIKE AN ARTIST, DON'T ACT LIKE ONE is puzzling (why shouldn't one act like an artist?) and hugely misleading: the book pairs works of art with paragraph-sized "lessons," but doesn't deal with how artists think or act. While the works of art illustrated are often interestingly chosen, their connection to the lessons that accompany them frequently feel slight and a number of the lessons themselves are banal, odd, or impossible to act on. Using the book's first text as an example, what exactly does "be fertile" mean in practice? Few would argue that, say, creative "fertility" is a good thing, but what use is this lesson without any guidance on how to increase one's own? The use of artworks from history could definitely spark some interesting and useful insights, but sadly, this book doesn't deliver them.

This is a bite-size coffee table book centered around 75 pieces of artwork and their artists. The musings are varied and cover topics of art history, art processes, and information about the artists themselves.

The title did not do a very good job of describing its contents, but I understand it’s part of a series with similar titles.

I really liked this book! It’s approachable for those of us with busy lives that feel as if we can’t spend much time reflecting on art through history. What surprised me was how many of the art pieces included here that I had never seen.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-copy in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to checking out more books in this series!

“We often think that art is “difficult”, or that it is about a world long past or far away. But what art is really all about is our own lives, and about what questions we have always asked, wherever we are. For thousands of years, artists have been wondering how to bring form and substance to our worldly existence.”

In “Think Like an Artist, Don’t Act Like One” (the third in the “Think Like a Pro” series) the reader takes a stroll through the history of art in search of lessons for everyday home and working lives.

From the classical works of ancient Egypt and Greece to today’s abstract and conceptual movements, art addresses questions we all face in life. Questions about success and failure, about love and loss, about friendship and about work.

We are presented with 75 ways to look at art along with 75 lessons to learn. The lessons fall under sometimes surprising headings beginning with: ‘Be Fertile’; ‘Forever 19’; ‘A Good Story’; ‘Long Live the Copy’; ‘Celebrate the Horse Power’; ‘Hang on to the Mystery’; ‘Show the Humanity’; ‘Cherish the Illusion’, and ‘Create Depth’, to ‘Memento Mori’, ‘Dive Into Nothingness’, ‘Beauty Mark’; ‘Make Mary Hip Hop’, ‘It’s All About Paint’; ‘Kitch is Correct’, ‘What is True?’, ‘Make Eye Contact’, ‘Cut the Cynicism’, and ‘Conjure with Time’.

Beneath every heading is a paragraph or short chapter together with a photograph of an artwork. I found myself wishing that each page of writing was longer and went into further depth regarding the analogy between the artwork and the accompanying text. The “lessons” were somewhat superficial, when they appeared, and I didn’t find that I gained much from them. I also found the title somewhat of a misnomer as there is no “acting like an artist” involved.

“Think Like an Artist, Don’t Act Like One” attempts to provide a practical introduction to art history in the form of a guide to the questions in life you can answer simply by experiencing and interrogating art.
In terms of art, the book casts its net widely, and it has introduced me to many vivid and memorable artworks.

Art may not change or cure anything — it is not a vaccine — but it can find it’s way into the bloodstream and make life more tolerable, less painful, more meaningful, less-angst ridden, and more contented.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley, @BIS Publishing and @LaurenceKingPub for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found the title and description both misleading. I didn't see any 'lessons' in the book.

The book is an incoherent collection of 75 art pieces with one paragraph of writing for each piece. I didn't think that the writing was adequate. Certain descriptions did leave an impression, but at large I was just confused. The author left a lot of unanswered questions, which made sense at certain times, but mostly felt incomplete. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to take away from this book. I don't see it as an art history book either as it's too short to provide enough information.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I lost interest and never finished the title. It may be someone else’s cup of tea. It just wasn’t mine and as an Artist this surprised me.

In a time when we can't go to museums in person, we have to make do with virtual visits and art books. The title here is a bit of a mismatch, but I liked what it actually is better than what it purported to be--some thoughts on 75 pieces of art, page by page. Viewing a variety of artefacts and works of art may just help you get your own creativity flowing again.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book provided a lot of new art to me; however, I found the writings for each piece of art lacking. I also found that the kindle edition I was reading did not include the entire work of art. For example, I was only able to see a couple of the angels in the piece “Lamentation the mourning of Christ.” I was familiar with this piece, but wonder how much of the artwork was only partially shown. This was disappointing to me. I also found some of the writings not only lacking, but partly false. In one, the author mentions “There were no mirrors in those days, so people had little or no idea what their own face looked like.” Had they never seen themselves in a water reflection? Overall, was this book worth it, I don’t think so.

Absolutely disliked this book. it felt patronizing and judgemental. And sadly that is all I have to say about it.

"Think Like an Artist, Don't Act Like One" is a collection of 75 "lessons" garnered from art pieces dating from Ancient Egypt to modern times. I truly hesitate to even call them lessons because the truth of this little book is, there was not much to gain from reading it. The book is very surface level in an any information it provides and even less so in the "lessons" we're supposed to gain from each art piece. It would have been fine if book provided anything in depth to the reader but everything was just surface level.

One of the aspect of the book that I really could not jive with was the numerous amounts of questions that went unanswered, whether rhetorical or not, the author made no effort to provide a response of any insight. The writing was incredibly random and did not always have anything to do with the art piece it was associated with. The writing style was also incredibly basic, maybe in an attempt to reach a broader audience by making the information accessible to everyone, but seeing as there was very little information given in the book the simple style comes as across as poorly written.

The one thing I did enjoy about this book was that art pieces chosen to represent the the lessons. It would have been very easy for the author to chose only commonly known pieces that are used in a lot of modern literature about Art History. I found the balance between common pieces and lesser know works of art to be refreshing and for that reason I gave the book two stars.

Overall, this book was dull, simplistic, and did not deliver on it's promise to "provide lessons for our everyday home and working lives'. I would not suggest reading this book.


You can read more about my thoughts on this book over on my blog: justajujubean.com


I would like to thank Netgalley and Laurence King Publishing Ltd – BIS Publishers for providing me with an e=arc of "Think Like an Artist, Don't Act Like One" in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the title was a little misleading. I thought it was going to help me think like an artist. I had been searching for books on the left and right brain and busting creativity. this book came up in that search. I should have read the reviews and descriptions more carefully.

I found it to be more of an Art History book. I did find some of the paintings engaging and was interested in some of the stories of the artists.

I received this book from NetGalley.

A quick introduction to art and different artists and how you can apply. Bite sized chunks this is an easy introduction for those interested in art. Although I am pretty sure that the photo of Frida is from the movie.

What I mainly disliked about this book, was the title. It sets you up for disappointment.
In the short paragraphs, all connected to a piece of art, what is talked about is more about the interpretation of the writer of each piece then about the thought process of the artist.
Would have been better if it was titled ´Short Musings about Art´ or something alike.

Seventy five short descriptions of pieces of art or art related topics. Superficial, rather boring, it felt like you were reading poorly written, short book reports by a disinterested and unmotivated high school student.

I love aphorisms and I love great art so I thought would be a good choice for me but sadly it just really doesn't deliver. The illustrations are well printed and detailed, the notes are pithy unlike the aphorisms which are mediocre.

Think Like an Artist, Don't Act Like One teachers you lessons you can learn from art and staying curious. The book looks at the history of art to find lessons that can help artists and really, anyone, help answer questions we may have about ourselves and our lives.  The book looks at 75 art pieces and has 75 life lessons, one for each.  In addition to feeling like I got to walk through a museum (who knows when the next time I'll actually do that!) I learned a lot of things about myself and the world through reading each of these lessons. 

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.