What It Is

Recommended by Austin Kleon, and 1 others. See all reviews

Ranked #37 in Creativity, Ranked #85 in Creative

How do objects summon memories? What do real images feel like? For decades, these types of questions have permeated the pages of Lynda Barry’s compositions, with words attracting pictures and conjuring places through a pen that first and foremost keeps on moving. What It Is demonstrates a tried-and-true creative method that is playful, powerful, and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive wish to write or to remember. Composed of completely new material, each page of Barry’s first Drawn & Quarterly book is a full-color collage that is not only a gentle guide to this process but an... more

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of What It Is from the world's leading experts.

Austin Kleon Unsolicited, but here’s my advice for visual thinkers (and others) who want to be better writers: Get Lynda Barry’s What It Is and do the exercises every day in a private notebook. (Source)


Similar Books

If you like What It Is, check out these similar top-rated books:


Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?