People of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives.

Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

Listening Length

5 hours and 6 minutes
Author

Elizabeth Gilbert
Narrator

Elizabeth Gilbert
Audible release date

September 22, 2015
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
ASIN

B00U08ECQA
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	5 hours and 6 minutes
Author	Elizabeth Gilbert
Narrator	Elizabeth Gilbert
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	September 22, 2015
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00U08ECQA
Best Sellers Rank	#1,505 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #3 in Creativity & Genius #3 in Popular Psychology Creativity & Genius #4 in Creativity (Audible Books & Originals)

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4.5 out of 5

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C.Lacroix

Why the hype??

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022

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With a title like “Big Magic” I guess I was expecting profound life changing advice to totally rock my world, but for me, this one was a huge flop! I’ve seen this book before that came across my Amazon suggestions, but when I saw it being highly recommended in a paint party business group I signed up for, I felt like it was a sign that I had to order it especially after reading the reviews and informational interviews with the artist on YT.
So I ordered this book after hearing some of Elizabeth Gilbert’s talks about her book and hearing so many profound ‘ah-ha!!’ moments that convinced me that I HAD to get this book and read more hoping that the full content would be 1000x better than just what I heard. Well, I finally received this today and read it within 2 hrs time front to back and was sadly disappointed!!
I’m not sure what it I was that didn’t do it for me with this one, but it didn’t meet anywhere’s close to my expectations despite what I heard from the author and its reviews before I actually read the book. I sort of found it annoying and was waiting for it to get better, but for me, it just never got to that point. I hate starting a book and not finishing it in case my disappointment was due to something I had missed in the parts I never read.
I also found it kind of weird there was no intro and the book just starts in with what is supposed to be chapter one. The chapters/parts kind of jump around, but still tie into and bounce off of each other back and forth a little. The author mentions that this book wasn’t written for her audience, but for her (as our work should be done for) which may be why it’s written in the structure it was-who knows. I find it weird that a book not meant for its viewers be published for viewers to read that specifically mentions it wasn’t written for viewers to read in its content.
One of the parts that annoyed me was that the chapters started weird and a few of them started with the word “also” making a point to start a new chapter, but still banking off the previous sub-chapter’s point, make me feel like it shouldn’t have been broken up like that.
While I don’t mean to sound mean here, because I still commend her bravery to keep on being so determined to get her work selected and trudging on through so many “no” rejections and while I understand her point in explaining why it was so important to include that in her book (to reiterate the importance of being persistent), I can honestly see why her writing style many not have been chosen for so long. If this book is anywhere like her other books, I have a hard time trying to wrap my head around how her other book “Eat, Pray, Love” got so famous.
One of the other poor reviews this book got, mentions that maybe it’s not geared towards those who are already creative which might have been why I didn’t find it so appealing, but then the book mentions that we are ALL creative beings so that shouldn’t matter much to make or break this book for me.
This book did leave me with a few ‘yeah, that DOES make a good point, one I really never thought of like that!’ thoughts just like with the videos I saw with her speaking, but that’s about it. I feel like I got far more out of the videos about her talking about the book than I did the book. From the reviews, I honestly felt like this would be highlighting the crap out of it with profound points left and right as much as the reviews hyped up this book to by, which is why I invested in the hardcover copy, but not once did this leave me even thinking to grab my highlighter or dog-ear the pages. In many parts I just hung around waiting to get over with the boring parts to get to the really good stuff that didn’t really come.
After reading the cover jacket info on the book, I honestly didn’t feel like this book lived up to the expectation of what it promised. I also feel like this maybe should have been a sequel to her other book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ (which I have not read and know nothing of what it’s really about) with as many times as she mentioned it in this book. I’m not sure if that book is better or worse than this one, but I honestly feel as though if a book IS meant to be a sequel to another book you’ve written, then you probably shouldn’t base your other books around them if you want them to speak for themselves. I feel like just because you have ‘made it’ with one book, doesn’t mean you should piggy-back your other books off of them especially if they don’t have anything to do with each other.
I feel like my biggest disappointment with this book was *because*I*do* struggle with fear being a creative and hoped this book would offer better ways to over come that. I know the book was supposed to be geared more towards ‘creative people’ with her term “artist” being used a lot, but I find it kind of annoying when the whole book was more so about her writing journey, leaving me feeling like she was speaking more towards writers than actual art-artists or creative people as a whole. I know it can be applied across the board of creatives, but the over reference of her writing examples was a turn off. I would have loved to hear more of those general creative experiences applied to what she was talking about and less about how her writing made it into a learning experience to teach us.
Idk how many times I found myself thinking that this book would be better gifted to my son who struggles more with the issues this book was supposed to help with. Much of the advice in it, ha been much of what I have suggested to him over the years. Being a book hoarder and saying I wouldn’t keep this book, says a lot because I have a hard to like giving away or even loaning my books out even if I didn’t like them that much. I would much rather purchase a second copy and keep mine to give someone else, so to say this book IS one I would give away because it would be far more useful in someone else’s hands than sitting on my shel to possibly reread down the line somewhere by me, says a lot on how much I didn’t care for it. I’m not sure how this book got so many good reviews and it honestly left me feeling like I totally missed something here with this one!!

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Jonathan Belle

Some Very Good Insights

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2023

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This isn't just a book; it's a journey through the creative process that enlightened me with its profound principles. As an artist, I found an abundance of inspiration and actionable wisdom in its chapters. Elizabeth Gilbert speaks to the soul of every creator, urging us to embrace our curiosities and let go of the fears that hinder our creativity. It's a manifesto that challenges you to live a life driven by creativity rather than fear. For anyone looking to spark their creative spirit, this book is a guiding light. Highly recommend it for a transformative perspective on the arts and beyond. #BigMagic #CreativeLife

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ARHuelsenbeck

If you’ve always wanted to do something creative, but held back for fear of not being good enough, this may be the book for you.

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2016

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I find Elizabeth Gilbert interesting. But I only partially agree with her.

I bought and read Eat, Pray, Love (after the movie—which I never saw—came out). Then I took it to my local secondhand bookstore and traded it for credit.

Some of you know I am a bookaholic (*cough* hoarder). Two new books arrived at my house today. My daughter says, “Why do you still buy books? Duh, you can borrow them from the library for free.”

I did my share of traipsing back and forth from the library with shopping bags full of books every two weeks from the time I was six until my kids were grown. I’ve bought books at garage sales for ten cents. I still buy used books, but if there’s a book I want to read now and I can’t find it used or on sale, I’ll gladly pay $24.95 for it, anticipating a long-term relationship. I like to devour them, and then come back to them again and again to re-digest them.

But one time through Eat, Pray, Love was enough. It didn’t earn space on my bookshelf (or in my closet, or in a box on the floor of my study…). I enjoyed the intimate look at Gilbert’s life and the glimpse of how her brain works, but I’ll never read it again. Her worldview is foreign to me. She credits the universe with the power to answer prayer. I can’t relate. The universe is a created thing. The Creator is the One Who answers prayers.

When Big Magic came out, I wanted it because it is subtitled Creative Living Beyond Fear. Elizabeth Gilbert is nothing if not interesting and creative.

Yet, as I read Big Magic, I found myself longing for The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

Katie, my youngest (but all grown up) daughter, visited and found Big Magic in my study. “I read this,” she said.

“Yeah, I’m a little disappointed in it,” I said.

“Me, too. But why?”

“I bought it hoping that it would take me to the next level in my writing. But it’s not that helpful.”

“That’s because you’re already creative. This book is for beginners.”

Katie’s evaluation is right on the nose. If you’ve always wanted to do something creative, but held back for fear of not being good enough, this book may be just the kick-start you need.

So, the mini-review of Big Magic is: it’s not The Artist’s Way; it’s more Creative Lite.

But let’s go a little deeper.

On page 86, Gilbert says, You do not need anyone’s permission to live a creative life. I’m disappointed in that, because most books on creativity start out by granting readers permission to express themselves.

Gilbert characterizes ideas as being entities having lives and agendas of their own. Their main agenda is to be given birth as art. So they go around suggesting themselves to likely hosts. In other words, the idea approaches you. You can squash it or ignore it. You can let it wait until the spark dies. You can suggest it move on. Or you can run with it.

Then Gilbert tells the story of a wonderful novel she began writing about a spinster from Minnesota who falls in love with her boss and goes to the Amazon. Gilbert had a contract for the book and did extensive research. She invested a great deal of time and effort into it. Unfortunately, events in her personal life intervened, and she temporarily set aside the novel.

When she went back to it after a two-year hiatus, it was dead. Though she tried to resurrect it, nothing she tried could bring it back to life.

One day, when telling her friend Ann Patchett about it, Patchett told her she was currently writing that book. In fact, she got the idea right around the time they first met each other. Gilbert says the idea transmitted itself to Patchett when she gave her a kiss.

Interesting. But total b.s.

Not that people don’t independently come up with the same original idea as someone else all the time. Gilbert says in her book,

"When the nineteenth-century Hungarian mathematician Janos Bolyai invented non-Euclidean geometry, his father urged him to publish his findings immediately, before someone else landed on the same idea, saying, “When the time is right for certain things, they appear at different places, in the manner of violets coming to light in early spring.”

In the late 1990s to early 2000s I wrote a novel which never saw light of day. I am in the process of rewriting it, but I’m keeping several scenes from the original manuscript. One pivotal scene that I can’t (or don’t want to) leave out is going to seem ripped-off from The Hunger Games, even though I wrote it a decade before Suzanne Collins and she never kissed me. Sigh.

Gilbert tells some great stories in this book. If you like Lindsey Sterling’s story about being The Only Pirate at the Party, you’ll love the section called Walk Proudly (pages 260-264).

Some good advice Gilbert gives in Big Magic:

Stop complaining if you want to live a more creative life (page 117).
Don’t quit your day job. Most artists don’t make a living from their art and must have a back-up job to free themselves from the burden of expecting art to pay the bills (pages 151-156).
Don’t think that success looks like money or acclaim. If you love what you’re doing, that’s success (pages 182-184).
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Translation: get an agent (page 193).
When you have no inspiration, follow curiosity (pages 237-239).

However, in my opinion, some of her advice is flawed. She also says, “Whenever anybody tells me they want to write a book in order to help other people, I always think, Oh, please don’t…I would so much rather you wrote a book in order to entertain yourself than to help me” (pages 98-99).

I suspect most of Big Magic was written for Elizabeth Gilbert’s own entertainment. It certainly wasn’t her intention to help me, and she succeeded. Big Magic will get traded in for credit next time I go to the used bookstore.

70 people found this helpful

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Downy Knight

Wise and helpful book

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023

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I learned about the creative journey of a homegrown artist

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Nayana George

Must read

Reviewed in India on October 14, 2023

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I can't remember another book which has influenced me so much recently. It's a must read. The way Elizabeth Gilbert talks about creative living is worth the read .

Kindle Customer

Nice and motivating

Reviewed in the Netherlands on August 22, 2023

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It was a very nice book, very motivating and written in a nice and entertaining way.

Katja

Good book and print quality

Reviewed in Sweden on March 8, 2023

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The quality of the book and print is ok. This is not a review of the book itself. The text is rather widely spaced, but I guess it makes it easier to read. Overall, it’s a regular pocket book, good quality.

mamma2004

Brilliant book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2023

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I've read this book several times and get something new every time. Liz Gilbert gives of us, artist or not, some important wisdom and guidance for life. I enjoy how she personalises her philosophy with auto-biographic stories.

L Rainbow

Not overy intelectual, but suprisingly worth reading again and again

Reviewed in Germany on April 17, 2023

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This book is such an inspiration! I didn't expect it would be. I'm an artist, a ceramicist and a colleague recommended this book as she knows I like to read. I create ceramics but I'm also a teacher of ceramics, and also I write texts for my social media accounts. The book Big magic is an inspiration in all three.

How I see this book:
It's written in a simple down to earth conversational way and it is easy to read.
It's a kind of musing on subject of the creativity and creative process .
It's almost like a self help book for anyone doubting their ability to create or anyone needing a push to pursue their passion as a hobby.

For me it is way more than all that. For me it's a way of returning back to when I first discovered clay and living that moment of being a novice, a beginner. I's valuable to be able to do that as now I'm teaching beginners and it's good to remind myself how it is to be in their skin.
For me this book is also an inspiration on social media.

There are nuggets of wisdom and original thinking intersperced throughout the book. I have underlined the parts I particularly enjoyed reading so I can read a sentence or two as an inspiration and to put me in the mood of writing a post for social media. Seriously and totally unexpectedly, a line or a word from Big Magic sparks a whole post.
I have reccomened Big Magic in various art groups and I keep it on my bedside. I thourougly reccomend you buy it.

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