The Gift : How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World

A brilliantly argued defence of the importance of creativity in our increasingly money-orientated society, The Gift is a modern classic. It is even more relevant now than when it originally appeared twenty years ago. One of the most acclaimed books of the year, beloved by artists, writers and thinkers, The Gift will transform the way you look at the world.

Praise for The Gift:

'The Gift is the best book I know of for the aspiring young, for talented but unacknowledged creators, or even for those who have achieved material success and are worried that this means they've sold out. It gets at the core of their dilemma: how to maintain yourself alive in the world of money, when the essential part of what you do cannot be bought or sold.'

Margaret Atwood

'A manifesto of sorts for anyone who makes art, cares for it and understands that our most precious possessions are not for sale and the greatest contracts are achieved without anyone signing on the dotted line.'

Zadie Smith

'It is notoriously difficult to write without bombast or bullshit about the creative process or the duty of the artist, and to pull it off at such length is admirable. Hyde offers a quietly explosive series of arguments for the necessity of our shadow economy of ideas. But perhaps most importantly, his book offers to the lone scribbler in his workshop those most valuable of gifts: inspiration, companionship, understanding and justification.’

Independent on Sunday