Paddle Against the Flow: Lessons on Life from Doers, Creators, and Cultural Rebels

by HUCK Magazine, Douglas Coupland (Foreword)

Nas on language, Cat Power on looking inward, Spike Jonze on loving what you do, and Kim Gordon on feeling the flow. These are just a few of the indie stars and surprising insights collected in this gorgeous book by Huck magazine. Since launching in 2006, Huck has been at the vanguard of London's thriving independent publishing scene and has grown into an internationally distributed bi-monthly, with editions available on newsstands in 20 countries worldwide. Bringing together the best insights from over 60 of the most inspiring people Huck has spoken to over the years—along with exclusive photography and art that has come to embody Huck 's distinct aesthetic—this book presents a diverse range of truths, creative wisdom, and life lessons from those who paddle against the flow.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Art

152 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2015

Reviews

[Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young people in the Western world today face an uneasy predicament. On the one hand there are unlimited opportunities for self-development. Information glut, cheap travel, and an obsessive media spotlight on a wide range of societal challenges create an enormous pressure to contribute, to stand out from the crowd, to carve out one's own hyperindividual niche in this complex world. On the other hand secure, well-paying jobs are becoming scarce, and their disappearance also erodes traditional middle-class ideals. This is Generation DIY. They will have to find new formulas for success in a bigger and increasingly uncertain world. This book has been made with this particular audience in mind: young people about to start writing their own rulebook but too insouciant to be sensitive to good advice. ‚Paddle against the flow’ is a pile of inspirational quotes from a motley crowd of artists, designers, surfers and boarders, culled from the archive of counterculture Huck Magazine. Fifteen bucks may be a little steep for a mere collection of quotes. But I don’t mind that as long as they are sticky memes with significant corrosive potential. I’ve carried certain quotes around for years whilst they were worming their way into my subconscious only to reveal their true significance much later. For me the quotes collected between these two covers resonate quite strongly. They express the ethos of bottom-up creation and collaboration in a refreshingly straight-faced way. Just to take one example, I’m quoting filmmaker Robert Rodriguez: „If you want to make films, don’t say you want to make films. Just say you’re a filmmaker. People are very true to their identity. If your identity is someone who someday would like to make a film you’re going to remain someone who someday would like to may a film. If your identity is being a filmmaker, you’re going to do what filmmakers do, which is make stuff … ” Think about it. It’s true. There’s much more to reflect on in this modest publication, and that includes the brief, vigorous introduction by Douglas Coupland. Whilst I’m satisfied with the book’s content, its graphic design leaves me rather cold. Every quote is on a page faced by a photograph of drawing of the person quoted. The quality of the imagery varies and it’s been recycled in the front and back covers of the book. I think this could have been handled in a more imaginative way. I’d give the book 3,5 stars but I’m rounding up to 4.

[Dana Sweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine as a coffee table book. It is beautifully stylized and it has a visually striking layout, but it proclaims a level of significance and meaning that it can’t quite reach. Some of the quotations included are thought-provoking, but most felt rather empty, arbitrarily assembled, and out of context to me. Again: fine to flip through briefly, but less satisfying to actually read.

[Rye · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Find your North Star."

[Gaby Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I loved this book because of how it is organized and how it shows the different creators. This book shows and says a lot about the different types of people went through their life and what they did for a living. what the author did well was put the creators in different categories and by including what they did for a living and a quote from that person/ creator. The creator I really liked is Pharrell Williams he is a musician and he spoke about how you can always get different ideas from one another and how no answer is a wrong answer, "when it sounds right, it sounds right." he said. The creators words were very interesting. Since the book has different types of people or creators any reader can go at their own pace and not get bored.

Yes, I would recommend this book to any reader. Because the creators words are very interesting and the creators can teach the reader to be themselves. The reader might learn some things from these creators. It all depends in what the reader is into but in my opinion I think any one is able to like this book. It's very interesting and very engaging.

[Kasandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short series of sound-bite advice from the creative and adventurous in multiple fields (but especially punk, filmmaking, and surfing, oddly), this is a good gift for a teen or beginner artist who doesn't read a lot - more of a gift book or coffee table "leaf through" than a "book book".

[Jeanne Yurris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an easy read filled with interesting quotes from interesting people. I really enjoyed the short bios at the end of the book.

[Mark Nevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable quick read, full of inspiration, creativity, and advice.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lol someone gave me this and said it was “amazing.” It’s a book of quotes??? Not even good ones 🤣

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bunch of not-so-inspiring and not that eye-opening quotes, with a beautiful book cover (in Japanese version).

[Rineta Frolova · Rating 3 out of 5]

An aesthetic book. Had a couple of quotes that lit some inspiration. A book you can ever so often open if you need some inspiration

[Bryan Spellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

37 of 75 for 2015. This collection of aphorisms on living is subtitled “Lessons on life from doers, creators, and cultural rebels.” That pretty much sums it up. I sat down and read the entire collection in one sitting, but that’s not the way this book should be read. I would say this is a book to keep on your desk top, or next to your bed, wherever you keep those books you want to consult for inspiration on a daily basis. I had never heard of Huck Magazine before receiving this volume as part of Librarything’s Early Reviewers Program, but I will be looking for the periodical in the future. Taken from interviews that the magazine’s contributors have submitted, the texts in this volume are short, pithy, and well worth a second (or third) thought. Take this as an example, from Photographer Cheryl Dunn. “It’s good to make your mistakes while you’re young and not afraid. But you should never be afraid to make mistakes. Light moves at the speed of light. People forget the mistakes. Just keep making.” Having read that, I now want to know more about Cheryl Dunn. I would like to read the whole interview (because surely those five sentences are not the WHOLE interview). And there are fifty-nine of these bits of wisdom in the collection. Some of the people quoted are well known: Judd Apatow, Werner Herzog, Chuck Palahniuk, Dave Eggers. Some I’ve never heard of: Swoon, Boogie, Ed Templeton, C.R. Stecyk III. But all have something to say, something worth attending. There are times I receive a book from the Early Reviewers Program and I wonder what in the review caught my eye. This is one of those books, but, in a bit of serendipity, this is a book I will keep by my side and refer to again and again. Highly recommended!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for a few things when I read this book. 1) That the lessons would come from real "Doers, Creators, and Cultural Rebels". Check. 2) That it would be insightful for me and my students. Check. 3)That it would be appropriate for a middle school library. Close!

2 for 3 is good but just a few parts of it are a little too gritty for a middle school library (6-8 grades), which is too bad because I think that 7th and 8th graders are at the age where they have strong interests but they don't have focus and drive yet. Oh well, there are a lot of insights I can share with them, even if I don't share the whole book.

There are a lot of ideas in this book, many of which resonated with me. Did I feel all of this advice was true, or is it all useful to me? No. But the beauty of a book like this is that I can collect the pieces that apply to me, at this point in my life, and save the rest for another time or ignore them. There really were some sage pieces of advice that made me question the way I perceive things, do things, and react to things.

Highly recommend this book for high school and college students who are about to try to make their way in life.

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

1.Did you like the book? Why or why not? (You must provide at least two reasons - examples of why you liked or didn’t like the book. What did the author do well? Were the characters engaging? Was the story’s pace too slow?). I liked the book because it gave quotes for people to understand life is not all sunshine and rainbows it takes time to get what you want and it explains that famous people work hard to get what they want in life. The author did well on providing peoples explanation of how they see life. The characters were engaging because they gave out their point of view and the story was at a medium pace.


2.Would you recommend this book to readers? If so, why should they read this book? If not, why shouldn’t they read this book? I would recommend this book to people that are always sad and not in a good mood because this book got to me like i understood what the people were saying.

[James Swenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Perhaps I'm not the target audience for this collection of "lessons on life," but I don't find myself especially inspired by a headshot of someone of whom I've never heard (for example, skateboarder Stacy Peralta), illustrating the following advice:

You can't skateboard well without having some sort of an open mind because the whole act of skateboarding is overcoming obstacles. (p. 99)

Even though the editors have specified the moral of this story ("Break down walls"), I think my life will go along pretty much as it was before.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

With two or three exceptions, this is a 90s wet dream of quotes. And some illustrations and photography that isn't at all inspiring, though it does highlight the actual irrelevance many of these "rebels". That's not ageism speaking, there's just nothing infectious in the energy here. It's that section of a favourite magazine that you'd flip to, looking for the sound bite, but now in book form.