BOOKS OF THE WEEK

 The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin 

ABOUT THE  BOOK

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOYLES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day and then ages out. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable.

Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn't, he has learned that being an artist isn't about your specific output; it's about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone's life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distils the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime's work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments - and lifetimes - of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.

ABOUT THE  AUTHOR

Rick Rubin is a nine-time GRAMMY-winning producer, named one of the '100 Most Influential People in the World' by TIME and 'The most successful producer in any genre' by Rolling Stone. He has collaborated with artists from Tom Petty to Adele, Johnny Cash to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys to Slayer, Kanye West to The Strokes, System of a Down to Jay-Z.

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Searching & Browsing for Books

I’ve realised that searching and browsing might look similar on the outside, but they feel completely different from the inside. 

When I search for a book, I already know what I want. Maybe I’m in the mood for classic literature because I want something timeless and layered, or maybe I specifically want contemporary fiction because I need something immersive and easy to get lost in. I walk into the bookstore with that category in mind. I head straight to the section. I scan the shelves with focus. I find what fits my plan.

Searching feels efficient. Controlled. Intentional.

It’s like I’m executing a decision I already made before I even stepped inside.

Browsing is softer. Slower. Almost accidental.

When I browse, I don’t limit myself to classic literature or fiction. I wander. I pause at shelves I didn’t expect to care about. I pick up a book because the cover design feels intimate. I read a random paragraph and decide based on a feeling rather than a plan.

Browsing allows room for curiosity. There’s no checklist, no urgency to “get what I came for.” Sometimes I walk in thinking I want something serious and literary, and I leave holding something completely different. Not because I changed my mind — but because something unexpected caught my attention.

That’s the real difference.

Searching is about certainty. Browsing is about discovery.

When I search, I’m reinforcing what I already know about my taste. When I browse, I’m expanding it. Searching reflects my preferences. Browsing challenges them.

In a world that constantly pushes us to be efficient and decisive, browsing feels almost rebellious. It’s an act of patience. It’s allowing the shelves to speak before I do.

And honestly, the books that stay with me the longest are often the ones I never meant to find.

Between searching and browsing - Woodstock School Book Exhibition.

Sneha

-The English Book Depot

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

Every Last Girl: A Journey to Educate India's Forgotten Daughters 

by Safeena Husain

ABOUT THE BOOK

The extraordinary story of Educate Girls, the award-winning organization reshaping access toeducation in rural India
'Reveals the quiet revolutions unfolding in India's most forgotten corners' BANU MUSHTAQ
'Shines a keen and compassionate light on the last girl at the first mile of development ... Do read this book' ROHINI NILEKANI
India is one of the largest contributors to the global number of out-of-school girls. Poverty, early marriage and rigid social norms keep millions away from classrooms. At the heart of these issues is the symbolic 'last girl', Antimbala, representing those farthest from opportunity and first to be denied it. What would it take to change her fate-and that of countless others?
In 2007, Safeena Husain, whose own education was once interrupted, set out to find the answer. An initiative that began in a few pockets in Rajasthan has grown into Educate Girls – a grassroots movement that now spans more than 30,000 villages and has helped over two million girls return to learning. Through a network of local volunteers, it built leadership within communities, found new ways to identify out-of-school girls and track their progress, and proved that lasting change can start at the margins.
Drawing on years of first-hand experience and vivid stories from her work in India's villages, Safeena Husain's Every Last Girl traces this remarkable journey – the persistence it demands, and what becomes possible when a society chooses to bring its daughters into its future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Safeena Husain has worked extensively with rural and urban underserved communities in South America, Africa and Asia. Armed with a London School of Economics degree, Husain first worked in a start-up in Silicon Valley. She soon switched gears to lead the US-based organization Child Family Health International for seven years. In 2004, she returned to India to take on an issue closest to her heart and launched Educate Girls in 2007. She has shepherded the organization through dramatic growth since then. In 2025, Educate Girls became the first Indian organization to win the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

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www.ebdbooks.com

Our mail order service ships books in India and Overseas

Email: sales@ebd.in, Phone: +91 135 2655192