Synopses & Reviews
It is one of the enduring enigmas of the human experience: many of our most iconic, creative endeavorsand#8212;from Nobel Prizeand#8211;winning discoveries to entrepreneurial inventions and works in the artsand#8212;are not achievements but conversions, corrections after failed attempts.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;The gift of failure is a riddle. Like the number zero, it will always be both a void and the start of infinite possibility. andlt;I andgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt;and#8212;a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spiritand#8212;makes the case that many of our greatest triumphs come from understanding the importance of this mystery.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;This exquisite biography of an idea is about the improbable foundations of creative human endeavor. andlt;I andgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt; begins with narratives about figures past and present who range from writers to entrepreneurs; Frederick Douglass, Samuel F. B. Morse, and J. K. Rowling, for example, feature alongside choreographer Paul Taylor, Nobel Prizeand#8211;winning physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, Arctic explorer Ben Saunders, and psychology professor Angela Duckworth.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;I andgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt; explores the inestimable value of often ignored ideasand#8212;the power of surrender for fortitude, the criticality of play for innovation, the propulsion of the near win on the road to mastery, and the importance of grit and creative practice. From an uncommonly insightful writer, The Rise is a true masterwork.
Review
"Sarah Lewis is one the most talented writers and curators of her generation. The Rise should not just be read by every artist, but by every person hoping to unearth his or her own capacity for discovery and creativity. She provides an important and positive voice for the arts in a turbulent time."
Review
"A work of rare insight and sensitivity, brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Rise shows you how to stay open and be fearless. Sarah Lewis takes you to unexpected places, to spheres that just may become fabulous. There is no other book like it in the world."
Review
"Sarah Lewis has assembled a rich trove of reflections not just on creativity but on the too-often ignored role that failure and surrender play in almost any ambitious undertaking. That counter-intuitive point of attack makes The Rise a welcome departure from standard accounts of artistry and innovation."
Review
"Independence from everything other than life itself, is what makes any writer significant to the serious reader. Sarah Lewis is sensitive to deep meanings that are not common but always, due to her vibrant prose, seem exquisitely natural. Too much about her independence from the expected, cannot be said."
Review
andlt;iandgt;"The Riseandlt;/iandgt; is a tour d' forceand#8212;uplifting, smart, and important."
Review
and#8220;I was raised to be terrified of making mistakes, as though there was a smooth way forward without them. There is no other way forward; either you stumble through error, failure, risk and uncertainty on the available paths or you're stuck. Sarah Lewis's andlt;iandgt;The Riseandlt;/iandgt; makes a beautiful case both for the necessity of risk and failure and experimentation and for how the road to success is paved with such things, and along the way she tells us about arctic exploration, a future Supreme Court lawyer's captivation with Louis Armstrong's music, something surprising about Hollywood, Frederick Douglass's emphasis on beauty, and a host of other captivating stories to prove her points. and#8216;My life is full of mistakes. They're like pebbles that make a good road,and#8217; said the great ceramicist Beatrice Wood; this is a map of such roads and a collection of the most beautiful of those stones.and#8221;
Review
"Creativity is not a process, as so many books would like us to believe. It is a human condition waiting to be unearthed, as Sarah Lewis so beautifully shows us through her sharing of connected stories and personal insights in andlt;iandgt;The Riseandlt;/iandgt;. "
Review
"The Rise is a tour d' force—uplifting, smart, and important." Ellen Langer, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of Counter Clockwise
Review
andlt;iandgt;and#8220;The Riseandlt;/iandgt; marks the arrival of Sarah Lewis. With wit, heart, and remarkable research, Lewis elegantly demonstrates why excruciating, even humiliating failure is essential for success and mastery. andlt;iandgt;The Riseandlt;/iandgt; is rich with lessons for all of us.and#8221;
Review
"Lewisand#8217;s erudition in art and history is matched by her sympathy to the iterative failures of great art, making inspiring readers for those in the process of creation"
Review
"andlt;iandgt;The Riseandlt;/iandgt; points us toward the dazzling afterlife of the dead end, shining light on numerous other counter-intuitive paths to mastery. It delineates the impetus that can be prized from failure, the genius lurking in amateurism, the scientific insights hidden within artistic process. Sarah Lewis meditates on the ways we can will ourselves across the chasms of self-doubt that separate us from astonishing innovation and insight.and#8220;
Review
"Success and failure are often seen as polar opposites, one the peak and the other the abyss. In andlt;Iandgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt;, Sarah Lewis reexamines our views of both and offers news paths and paradigms. Like Malcolm Gladwell, she brilliantly takes complex ideas and makes them easy to follow, making it possible for us to see the world in a brand new way."
Review
"Creativity, like genius, is inexplicable, but Lewisand#8217; synthesis of history, biography and psychological research offers a thoughtful response to the question of how new ideas happen."
Review
"A well-written book that examines creativity, failure, and success. Recommended for anyone who wants to comprehend the value of innovation and discovery, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and researchers of psychology, sociology, and the visual and performing arts."
Review
"Without a whiff of self-help preachiness, andlt;Iandgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt; will make you reconsider your own foibles and flops, if only by showing how minor they are compared with the epic setbacks she details. From Martin Luther King Jr.and#8217;s struggle to overcome a distracting verbal tic to the phenomenon of elite women archers who go from regularly nailing the bulland#8217;s-eye to suddenly not even making the target, the book gives the old chestnut and#8220;If at first you donand#8217;t succeedand#8230;and#8221; a jolt of adrenaline."
Review
"Lewis, driven by her lifelong and#8220;magpie curiosity about how we become,and#8221; crafts her argument slowly, meticulously, stepping away from it like a sculptor gaining perspective on her sculpture and examining it through other eyes, other experiences, other particularities, which she weaves together into an intricate tapestry of and#8220;magpielike borrowingsand#8221; filtered through the sieve of her own point of view. andlt;Iandgt;The Riseandlt;/Iandgt; is a dimensional read in its entirety and#8212; highly recommended."
Review
"Lewis's voice is so lyrical and engaging that her book, "The Rise," can be read in one sitting, which is so much the better since its argument is multilayered and needs to be taken whole."
Synopsis
A celebrated art historian and curator examines one of the enduring enigmas of the human experience: the powerful role failure plays in our lives and how it can be a catalyst for creativity.
Sarah Lewis has spent years investigating how "failure" enables us to transform ourselves, to reinvent ourselves, and to understand ourselves. The Rise is part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit. This book argues that "failure" is vital.
Ranging across all human endeavor--from arctic explorers to world-class athletes, from Nobel Prize-winning scientific experiments to jazz clubs and dance stages--Lewis shows how society's greatest successes have been riddled with "failure." Martin Luther King, Jr. overcame a speech impediment to become one of the most powerful orators in history. Maya Lin was given a "B" grade on the design that would become the world-famous Vietnam War Memorial. And this was the response to Fred Astaire's screen test in the 1930s: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little."
The Rise is an inspiring book that has lessons for us all. But its most empowering lessons are about what it means to be human as we struggle for mastery in our various spheres.
About the Author
Sarah Lewis has served on President Obamaand#8217;s Arts Policy Committee and is an active curator, having held positions at the Tate Modern and The Museum of Modern Art. She is on the faculty of Yale University, School of Art in the Photography and Painting departments of the MFA program. She lives in New York City.