Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Making Moviesby Sidney Lumet
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
by Robert McKee
A comprehensive guide to the craft and principles of successful screenwriting.
Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy ... (Barnes & Noble)
Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
Step-by-step guide to writing a successful screenplay, using the "Save the Cat" approach.
This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat! ... (Goodreads)
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
by Scott McCloud
Exploration of the visual language of comics and its role in storytelling.
Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. Explore the secret world between the ... (Goodreads)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen King
A series of personal reflections on the art of writing, and the power of story-telling.
"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is ... (Goodreads)
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
by Austin Kleon
A guide to unlocking creativity by embracing influence, stealing ideas, and making something new.
You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Maus
by Art Spiegelman
A graphic novel depicting a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and his son's journey to understand the past.
On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the ... (Goodreads)
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
by Neal Gabler
A comprehensive biography of Walt Disney, exploring his life, career, and impact on American culture.
From Neal Gabler, the definitive portrait of one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American entertainment and cultural history. Seven years in the making and meticulously researched ... (Goodreads)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
by Michael Lewis
How an unconventional approach to baseball changed the competitive landscape.
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball , had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every ... (Goodreads)
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor
by Bruce Campbell
A humorous account of the actor's journey through the world of low-budget filmmaking.
Okay, so at least you're interested enough to pick up this book and look inside. I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy ... (Goodreads)
Stitches
by David Small
A graphic memoir of a boy's struggle with illness, family secrets, and his own voice.
One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a ... (Goodreads)
This Boy's Life
by Tobias Wolff
A young man's memoir of his tumultuous childhood and his struggle to overcome obstacles.
In the 1950s, nomadic and flaky Caroline Wolff wants to settle down and find a decent man to provide a better home for herself and her son, Tobias "Toby" Wolff. She moves to Seattle, Washington and ... (Wikipedia)
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account
by Miklós Nyiszli
An account of the horrors of Auschwitz, as experienced by a Jewish prisoner-doctor.
When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Jew and a medical doctor, the prisoner Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared death for a grimmer fate: ... (Goodreads)
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
by Audre Lorde
A powerful autobiographical account exploring themes of gender, race, and sexuality.
Audre Lorde grows up in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s, a child of Black West Indian parents. Lorde is legally blind from a very young age, isolating her even further from her surroundings and a ... (Wikipedia)
A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
A memoir of Hemingway's life in 1920s Paris, exploring its rich bohemian culture.
Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, ... (Goodreads)
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
by Olivia Laing
A journey through the art world exploring themes of urban loneliness and creative connection.
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, ,#1 Book of the Year from Brain Pickings,, Named a best book of the year by NPR,, Newsweek, Slate, Pop Sugar,, Marie Claire,, Elle, ... (Barnes & Noble)
How Music Works
by David Byrne
A comprehensive look at the history and science of music, exploring its impact on culture.
Best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the iconic band Talking Heads, David Byrne has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll ... (Goodreads)
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
by Apostolos Doxiadis
A historical exploration of the development of logical thinking, from ancient Greece to the 20th century.
Set between the late 19th century and the present day, the graphic novel Logicomix is based on the story of the so-called "foundational quest" in mathematics. Logicomix intertwines the philosophical ... (Wikipedia)
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
by David Simon
A year-long journey with Baltimore homicide detectives as they solve murders and navigate the city's complex social and political landscape.
From the creator of HBO's, The Wire, the classic book about homicide investigation that became the basis for the hit television show. The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is ... (Goodreads)
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
by Daniel H. Pink
Exploring the rise of right-brain thinking and how creativity and emotion are shaping our world.
The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line ... (Goodreads)
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
A journey through the music of the 20th century, exploring its cultural and historical context, and its impact on society and politics.
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is a voyage into the labyrinth of modern music, which remains an obscure world for most people. While paintings of Picasso and Jackson Pollock ... (Goodreads)
The Law
by Frédéric Bastiat
A concise treatise on the nature of law, its purpose, and its proper role in society.
How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in ... (Goodreads)
On Photography
by Susan Sontag
Examination of the implications of photography and its effects on society.
First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When ... (Goodreads)
Live from New York: An Oral History of Saturday Night Live
by Tom Shales
A behind-the-scenes look at the iconic sketch comedy show, featuring interviews with cast members and collaborators.
James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales's definitive oral history of, Saturday Night Live, hailed as "incredible" (,Vulture,) and "required reading" (,People,). When first published to celebrate the 30th ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Consolations of Philosophy
by Alain de Botton
A philosophical journey to find comfort in life’s difficulties and joys.
Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy takes the discipline of logic and the mind back to its roots. Drawing inspiration from six of the finest minds in history - Socrates, Epicurus, ... (Goodreads)
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
by Andy Hunt
A guide to mastering the craft of programming, using practical techniques and approaches.
Straight from the programming trenches,, The Pragmatic Programmer, cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process–taking a ... (Goodreads)
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
by Nicholas Carr
Examination of how technology is impacting the way we think and process information.
“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also ... (Goodreads)
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
by Ed Catmull
An exploration of the principles and strategies that drive success in the creative process.
“What does it mean to manage well?” From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to ... (Goodreads)
Grant
by Ron Chernow
Biography of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, exploring his life and legacy.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and inept businessman, fond of drinking to excess; or as the triumphant but brutal Union ... (Goodreads)
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
by Steve Martin
A memoir of the comedian's rise to fame, from the early days of stand-up comedy to the heights of success.
In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the ... (Goodreads)
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest & Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
by Henry Hazlitt
Exploring the principles of economics, helping readers gain a better understanding of the subject.
A million copy seller, Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is a classic economic primer. But it is also much more, having become a fundamental influence on modern “libertarian” economics of the ... (Goodreads)
