NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY Esquire • PopSugar • The Huffington Post • Buzzfeed • Publishers Weekly A unique new guide to creativity from Questlove—inspirations, stories, and lessons on how to live your best creative life Questlove—musician, bandleader, designer, producer, culinary entrepreneur, professor, and all-around cultural omnivore—shares his wisdom on the topics of inspiration and originality in a one-of-a-kind guide to living your best creative life. In Creative Quest, Questlove synthesizes all the creative philosophies, lessons, and stories he’s heard from the many creators and collaborators in his life, and reflects on his own experience, to advise readers and fans on how to consider creativity and where to find it. He addresses many topics—what it means to be creative, how to find a mentor and serve as an apprentice, the wisdom of maintaining a creative network, coping with critics and the foibles of success, and the specific pitfalls of contemporary culture—all in the service of guiding admirers who have followed his career and newcomers not yet acquainted with his story. Whether discussing his own life or channeling the lessons he’s learned from forefathers such as George Clinton, collaborators like D’Angelo, or like-minded artists including Ava DuVernay, David Byrne, Björk, and others, Questlove speaks with the candor and enthusiasm that fans have come to expect. Creative Quest is many things—above all, a wise and wide-ranging conversation around the eternal mystery of creativity.

"You have to bear in mind that [Questlove] is one of the smartest motherf*****s on the planet. His musical knowledge, for all practical purposes, is limitless." --Robert Christgau A punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone's Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences--from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo' Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D'Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to...you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!? But Mo' Meta Blues isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It's a book that questions what a book like Mo' Meta Bluesreally is. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind. It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes. It's a record that keeps going around and around.

talent means almost nothing when it comes to getting better at anything, especially music. Practice is everything. This book covers essential practice strategies and mindsets you won't find in any other book. You'll learn the What, Why, When, Where, Who, and especially the How of great music practice. You'll learn what research tells us about practice, but more importantly, you'll learn how the best musicians in many genres of music think about practice, and you'll learn the strategies and techniques they use to improve. This book will help you get better faster, whether you play rock, Bach, or any other kind of music.

Explore the depth of this brilliant and tortured artist's spirituality and find a new Van Gogh--philosopher of life, unorthodox theologian, and determined seeker of global spirituality.

In somethingtofoodabout, drummer, producer, musical director, culinary entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author, Questlove, applies his boundless curiosity to the world of food. In conversations with ten innovative chefs in America, Questlove explores what makes their creativity tick, how they see the world through their cooking and how their cooking teaches them to see the world. The conversations begin with food but they end wherever food takes them. Food is fuel. Food is culture. Food is history. And food is food for thought. Featuring conversations with: Nathan Myhrvold, Modernist Cuisine Lab, Seattle; Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park, and NoMad, NYC; Michael Solomonov, Zahav, Philadelphia; Ludo Lefebvre, Trois Mec, L.A.; Dave Beran, Next, Chicago; Donald Link, Cochon, New Orleans; Dominque Crenn, Atelier Crenn, San Francisco; Daniel Patterson, Coi and Loco'l, San Francisco; Jesse Griffiths, Dai Due, Austin; and Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro, Portland

New York Times bestselling Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years—now in paperback Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapes, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History is a singular look at contemporary America.

Photo Quest - Discovering Your Photographic & Artistic Voice is a sequel to Rick Sammon's internationally best-selling book, Photo Therapy Motivation and Wisdom - discovering the power of pictures. This book, Rick's 41st, was written for photographers, as well as for all types of artists - because the lessons and philosophies on these pages are universal to all creatives. Like Photo Therapy, Photo Quest includes only words of wisdom motivation and inspiration. There are no photographs in this book. Rick says there are two reasons for not including photographs (unlike his 40 other books and 18 online classes that are richly illustrated with hundreds of photographs from his travels around the world): "One, I want you to slow down and read the text carefully; Two, I want you to think about your photography and art when you are reading about an idea or technique - and not be distracted by my colorful images." Rick Sammon has assembled an all-star team of photo and creative mentors for this important book - a team that offers advice and insight on finding one's photographic and artist voice. As Rick says, "You'd be hard pressed to find this much talent between the covers of one photography book." This list of contributors reads like a "Who's Who" in the world of photography in 2020. These pros include Erin Babnick, Martin Baily, Richard Bernabe, Steve Brazill, Jeff Cable, Tony Corbell, Patricia Davidson, Dave DeBaermaeker, Ron Clifford, Ed Cooley, Unmsh Dinda, Frank Doorhof, Piper Mackay, Scott Kelby, Karen Hutton, Don Komarechka, Ian Plant, Trey Ratcliff, Art Wolfe - and more! If you are in search of becoming a more creative photographer, and not just ways of taking better pictures (there is a big difference), you have come to the right place. And if you are thinking about "changing lanes" - changing your career or making creative changes in your life - this book is for you. On these pages you will learn about (in chapter titles of the same name): Finding Your Superpower and Inner Voice, Your Secret Weapon, Idea to Image, Specializing or Not Specializing, The Rollercoaster Ride of Creatives, The Importance of Your Conversation, Changing Lanes, Creating a Sense of Mystery, Photography & The Death of Reality, Know Your Audience & Build Your Brand - and more. Each of the 22 chapters in the book ends with a Mission - an assignment - that will help you on your personal photo quest, which Rick feels will be one of the most rewarding adventures in your photographic and artistic life. This book is also filled with dozens of inspirational quotes relating to photographs and all artists. Here is one of Rick's favorites: An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. - Charles Cooley