"Born Standing Up," by Steve Martin

This is not a photography book. It is not even an art book, in the normal sense: It is a book about creativity. Steve Martin is a modern-day version of a Renaissance man. He made himself famous by playing the banjo with an arrow through his head and telling jokes without punchlines, singing about King Tut, acting in movies, creating screenplays and writing books.

"Born Standing Up" is an autobiography describing a man's ascent to the zenith of fame. Then, just past that height, says "Okay, what next?" and steps off the coaster to which he had been manacled. Not many people know when to say when and can recreate themselves successfully after being tagged a comedic genius. It concisely and exquisitely gives insight into his life from childhood (he was born in 1945) to the early '80s, the time when he left his white suit and stand-up act on the stage and stepped into a new public persona. Throughout this journey, the book describes the various changes and incarnations he went through, not unlike taking off the white suit and putting away the arrow, but not as severe.

Martin, in "Shopgirl," "The Pleasure of My Company" and his New Yorker scribes, has more than proven himself as a talent of übermagnitude. Using such sparse language, it is amazing he can describe a year of his life in a single phrase or paragraph. In this 204-page page-turner he covers more than half his life. So short, yet I feel I know him more intimately than others through their work and other means. Jackson Pollock, of whom I have read a 934-page biography, seen numerous artworks and read innumerable books, does not seem as close as Martin.

It's not as if Martin is open, flowing extrovert of a guy outside his wacky performance persona -- he is not. However, the book so deftly and precisely hones in on his growth, emotions and reasonings that he can describe the sprout of his constant battle with hypochondria in a sentence and I am completely informed regarding this subject.

But why I chose this book today can be summed up in a quote from page 80, the first part of which is from a postcard to a girlfriend.

"I have decided my act is going to go avant-garde. It is the only way to do what I want.

I'm not sure what I meant, but I wanted to use the lingo, and it was seductive to make these pronouncements. Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration." 

That last sentence is one to live by.