Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Buy new:
$9.79$9.79
FREE delivery: Wednesday, June 21 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Buy used: $7.18
Other Sellers on Amazon
+ $4.99 shipping
93% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
97% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
100% positive over lifetime
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives Paperback – October 3, 2017
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
Purchase options and add-ons
Insights and inspiration for anyone who makes art (or anything else) from someone who's been there (and maybe still is).
From the creative mind and heart of designer Adam J. Kurtz comes this upbeat rallying cry for creators of all stripes. Expanding on a series of popular essays, this handwritten and heartfelt book shares wisdom and empathy from one working artist to others in his signature tone: empathetic, vulnerable, inclusive, and conversational. Perforated tear-and-share pages make it easy to display the most crucial reminders or to pass a bit of advice on to someone who needs it.
As wry and cheeky as it is empathic and empowering, this deceptively simple, vibrantly full-color book will be a touchstone for writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone else who wants to be more creative--even when it would be easier to give up and act normal.
The Ultimate BuzzFeed Books Gift Guide: "Pursuing art in all its forms, whether professionally or not, requires so much resilience and faith. Adam J. Kurtz's Things Are What You Make of Them is full of pick-me-ups and reminders that you are more than your self-doubt, and certainly you aren't alone in them."
- Print length144 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTarcherPerigee
- Publication dateOctober 3, 2017
- Dimensions4.2 x 0.42 x 6.3 inches
- ISBN-100143131516
- ISBN-13978-0143131519
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together

What do customers buy after viewing this item?
- Most purchased | Highest ratedin this set of products
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad OnesHardcover
From the Publisher
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Page at a Time | Pick Me Up | Things Are What You Make of Them | You Are Here (For Now) | |
| 365 prompts to help readers tap into their creativity by encouraging them to draw, write, list, reflect, and share. | An intimate and engaging journal for anyone who loves to explore ideas, record thoughts and feelings, and capture those fleeting but amazing moments of everyday life. | Insights and inspiration for anyone who makes art (or anything else). | A collection of essays and artwork that explores mental health, identity, handling setbacks, and more. |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Pursuing art in all its forms, whether professionally or not, requires so much resilience and faith. Adam J. Kurtz's Things Are What You Make of Them is full of pick-me-ups and reminders that you are more than your self-doubt, and certainly you aren't alone in them. -BuzzFeed
"Serving up optimism and hope" -NYLON
"All of Adam J. Kurtz's words are filled with wit, warmth, wonder and wisdom." -Alanis Morissette
"Advice from someone who's been there" -Teen Vogue
"This brilliant, life-affirming book is chock full of audacious advice to help creative people make sense of rejection, failure, false starts, fame, happiness and collaborations." -Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters podcast
"Kind, generous and empowering" -Cool Hunting
"Highly relatable and will make you laugh, cry and feel less crazy than you think you are. You're actually fine!" -Man Repeller
"A colorful, encouraging companion" -Forbes
"In Things Are What You Make of Them, Kurtz shares mini-essays of how he deals with the intangibles that can keep people stuck, overwhelmed, or afraid to move forward. He also confronts the idea of what concepts like happiness and success look like to people in creative or more traditional industries." -Refinery29
"Delivers the big pep talks you need" -HelloGiggles
"The book is divided into 12 color-coded sections, which run the gamut from the practical -- How to Stay Sane When You Work from Home and Working with Friends and Family -- to the existential -- How to Begin Again and How to be Happier. The advice is geared towards creatives, but honestly, these nuggets of wisdom are valuable mood boosters for people in any career path." -Bustle
"This life-affirming book has the feel of a personal diary, with hand-lettered text and heartfelt but practical advice. The perfect handbook for the creative soul in need of a gentle kick-start." -The Advocate
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : TarcherPerigee (October 3, 2017)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 144 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0143131516
- ISBN-13 : 978-0143131519
- Item Weight : 7.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.2 x 0.42 x 6.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #239,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #205 in Popular Psychology Creativity & Genius
- #767 in Creativity (Books)
- #4,739 in Motivational Self-Help (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Adam J. Kurtz (aka "Adam JK") is a designer, artist, and speaker. His books have been published in more than a dozen languages, and his offbeat creative work has been featured in Nylon, Adweek, Vice, The New Yorker, and more.
Kurtz's OK Tarot deck, an indie hit, was re-released by Penguin Random House in September 2022. Follow @adamjk for art and updates.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 6, 2017
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2018
Jewelya
I get it that scrawling the text out in handwritten all caps on little torn off pocket notebook pages looks spontaneous, hip and confidential but it doesn't seem to have occurred to this publisher and author that (a) it comes across as condescending to the reader, (b) it's a monumental waste of space for the not very much that you have to say, and (c) this presentation seriously impedes legibility in the most fundamental ways. On those occasions where Kurtz actually needs a few paragraphs to explain himself the publisher has typeset these passages (in the Kindle version I bought) in a tiny sans serif font buried beneath a grey tinted screen. Really, It's like picking cinders out of the soot. Note to publisher, try hiring book designers who are not sadists.
But enough about presentation. When it comes to actual substance there is not enough to make the reader feel like this is anything close to a worthwhile purchase. Just because someone has contributed an amusing and entertaining column on a regular basis to a blog or website does NOT mean they need be taken seriously as book authors. Apparently this guy has something of a following online and it may be entertaining to read (for free, in weekly installments) Kurtz's wandering riffs that veer into lame attempts at something resembling very predictable stand-up comedy, but when you've put down ten bucks for this it becomes downright annoying when it comes up again and again in these sparse pages.
Bottom line: Penguin and Kurtz, I want my money back. For the rest of you, if you want "Life advice for Creatives," keep looking because there's little of it here in this poorly presented, smug and jokey grab for your cash.
Top reviews from other countries
e um livro lindo


























