Blessed are the Weird by Jacob Nordby: book review

Blessed are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives (2016) is about creatives and the ‘keepers of offbeat wisdom throughout history’ who ‘teach us to see the world through different eyes.’

Nordby defines offbeat as people who ‘rarely followed the normal trajectory of progress’ – the artisan, the avant-garde, the alchemist, the renaissant, the dreamer, the misfit, the awkward, the mystic, the empath, the heretic, the hermit, the rebel, and the troubadour. They are not ditherers – they all have a sense of purpose.

He examines the meaning of success for people in the creative industry – writers, composers, dancers, poets etc. – as ‘living and creating a work-of-art life: unique, rich with meaning, naked of anything we don’t care about’ – i.e. being authentic and having soulful artistry.

With humour, inspiration, and sincerity, he uses quotes from creatives such as Buckminster Fuller, Ernest Hemingway, Frida Kahlo, Jack Kerouac, Henry David Thoreau, Albert Camus, Charles Bukowski, Lady Gaga, and many others.

Nordby enlightens readers how to connect with their inner genius, overcome procrastination, and create their own ‘work of art.’ He cites Buckminister Fuller – ‘no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.’

I attended one of Jacob Nordby’s (remote) workshops in March 2021, where the workshop group discussed creativity, particularly poetry, and the seeds of thoughts and ideas. As Nordby speaks, so he writes – in easy-to-follow and understandable language that is both practical and inspirational.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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