Book Review : Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

 Earlier this year, I started reading a meaningful and remarkable book called “Show Your Work” written by Austin Kleon. In my view, this book is a practical guide for everyone to improve career development and speed up life. The author collected a wealth of wisdom and wrote it in a beautiful way to give it all, explaining his insights with brilliant quotes and examples. In this review, I am going to share some of his quotes and summaries.

Be a Amateurs:

If you are passionate about what you do, you can do anything to learn! The author mentions Clay Shirkey in your book who wrote the following quote in his book.

Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public. They’re in love, so they don’t hesitate to do work that others think of as silly or just plain stupid. “The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act,” writes Clay Shirky in his book Cognitive Surplus.

Power of Knowledge Sharing:

Author is  great supporter of sharing knowledge, as it helps to make better contacts, accelerate learning and become expert. He mentioned below in his book:

The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.

Tell good stories:

The author has described the power of story. In his book, he explains that the two paintings are similar in a way that the viewer is unable to notice, creating a similar effect for both paintings, but when the viewer comes to know about the story of both the paintings, It creates different viewpoints and interest, so the author advises people. To become a good storyteller about own works.

“Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.”

Think Process, Not Product:

The author advocates thinking not about the product, but about the process. But we live in such a society or environment which is result oriented and always talk about the end result rather than the process, but the process is more important than the product, because it gives the opportunity to improve the product as well as People are also interested in behind-the-scenes activities which would be helpful to create communities and followers.

Don't be Human Spam:

The author shared the story of his college days, where his classmates liked to write but not to read, which is completely contrary to nature because without being a good reader, one cannot become a good writer. In the author's view, we need to be good contributors who engage with communities, share practical ideas and knowledge, and not be a spammer sharing unnecessary links and information.

In Summary:

In my opinion, this book should be read at the beginning of each year and I am grateful to the author for writing a book that serves as a guide. This book offers a new perspective on how to improve learning and career development.