Creativity: The Perfect Crime

“Make no mistake. I frown upon books about creativity.”

This is how Philippe Petit opens Creativity: The Perfect Crime. And this is definitely not your typical book on creativity. In it, Petit explores his own creative process, but rarely gives concrete advice (though there is plenty of abstract advice). But anyone who reads the opening paragraph, and then expects a typical book about creativity, has missed the author's point entirely.

This book is more an exploration of one person's creative process, not a blueprint for others to follow. And while this book has drawn comparisons to The Creative Habit and The Artist's Way it is not like those books at all. There are no exercises, no clear explanations of how he takes a project from inception to completion.

Instead, it is a look inside a creative mind, meant to be an inspiration, a place to look for ideas. It is not a how-to-be-creative book, but a how-the-author-is-creative-and-might-inspire-you book.

It is probably just me, but it took everything I had to force myself to keep reading this book to the end. Petit writes in his foreword to the book, “Make no mistake. I frown upon books about creativity.”


Perhaps he should have listened to his instincts here. Some things just can't be written about, perhaps.