The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World - Softcover

The Gift actually deserves the hyperbolic praise that in most blurbs is so empty. It is the sort of book that you remember where you were and even what you were wearing when you first picked it up. The sort that you hector friends about until they read it too. This is not just formulaic blurbspeak; it is the truth. No one who is invested in any kind of art, in questions of what real art does and doesn't have to do with money, spirituality, ego, love, ugliness, sales, politics, morality, marketing, and whatever you call 'value', can read The Gift and remain unchanged. -- David Foster Wallace Persuasive and fascinatingly illustrated, The Gift profits immensely from the modesty and unpretentiousness of Hyde's writing and the fascinated good nature with which he expounds his propositions. -- Tim Martin * * Independent on Sunday * * A masterpiece - 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. -- Margaret Atwood Brilliant - by the time he is done he has folded language, culture and the very habit of being human into his ken. * * New Yorker * * Hyde argues passionately that creativity is one of the most valuable commodities in our progressively more materialistic society. Acclaimed by writers and artists since its first publication 30 years ago, his book will change the way you look at life. * * Good Book Guide * *

First published in America in 1979, The Gift is a modern classic. This inspiring examination of the 'gift economy' is even more relevant now than when it originally appeared. It's a brilliantly argued defence of the place of creativity in our increasingly market-orientated society.