3.5 Like a lot books by non-writer celebrities, this one could have used a more forceful editor. Sometimes the freewheeling nature of the book is fun, like just listening to someone talk and tell stories, but other times it's rambling and circular and repetitive. That said, I liked that Questlove took a different approach to talking about creativity than most other works I've seen by writers. Mostly, he takes the reader seriously as a creator, i.e., it's not just a book for adults who feel their office jobs have drummed the creativity out of them , it's applicable to people who seriously practice a creative craft. As a result, the book is short on tired inspirational platitudes and instead peppered with surprisingly practical tips and tricks that pop up in the middle of interesting stories. Beyond that, many of the stories emphasize the everydayness of the creative process even for the most successful artists—it's more about showing up and just doing SOMEthing than conjuring magic sparks. Side note: you don't have to be a musician to get something out of it, but it helps, even just to translate the ideas into your own creative activities.