Product Description

In this rare work of public disclosure, filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation

Over the last four decades, David Lynch has created some of the best-known and widely discussed screen works of our time. This distinctive writer-director's art bears not only the mark of box-office success but also criticalacclaim and cultural posterity.

Yet Lynch generally reveals little of himself, or the ideas behind his work. Now he provides a rare window into his methods as an artist and his personal working style. In Catching the Big Fish, Lynch writes candidly about the tremendous creative benefits he has gained from his thirty-two-year commitment to practicing Transcendental Meditation.

In brief chapters, Lynch describes the experience of "diving within" and "catching" ideas like fish-and then preparing them for television or movie screens, and other mediums in which Lynch works, such as photography and painting.

In the book's first section, Lynch discusses the development of his ideas-where they come from, how he grasps them, and which ones appeal to him the most. He then shares his passion for "the doing"-whether moviemaking, painting, or other creative expressions. Lynch talks specifically about how he puts his thoughts into action and how he engages with others around him. Finally, he discusses the self and the surrounding world -and how the process of "diving within" that has so deeply affected his own work can directly benefit others.

Catching the Big Fish provides unprecedented insight into Lynch's methods, as it also offers a set of practical ideas that speak to matters of personal fulfillment, increased creativity, and greater harmony with one's surroundings.

The book comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch's deeply personal vision. And it is equally intriguing to anyone who grapples with questions such as: "Where do ideas come from?" and "How can I nurture creativity?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145291 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Lynch blends biography, filmography, spiritual quotes and his philosophical perspective on the life-changing capabilities of transcendental meditation, all within two and a half hours. Having practiced meditation for three decades, director Lynch discusses how it has influenced his life and helped him to concentrate his energy. Listeners may catch glimpses of creativity and consciousness, but Lynch's rants lack cohesion and substance. Within the audiobook's short chapters, Lynch barely broaches a topic before moving onto the next, leaving listeners to question his emphasis to go "deep." The most interesting aspects arise out of his anecdotes and comments about his films, like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. His dry rattling voice hints at the passion behind his statements, but more often comes across as insistent and almost whiny. He reminds listeners that authors do not always make the best voices for their books. However, on the sound production end, the lightly blowing wind for the quotes from the Upanishads and Sutras adds mystical air to their reading. It's unfortunate that neither his words nor his voice live up to that standard.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
A charming audio by the film director, artist, and Transcendental Meditation devotee is part memoir, part meditation tutorial, and part layman's guide to finding the big ideas we need to fuel great personal expression. Though Lynch sounds mature and worldly, he brings immense freshness to this lesson. He shares a personally validated creative process that cuts through the noise about artistic expression and gets to the basic realities of unfettered personal discovery. The big fish swim far below, so we have to dive deep to find the ideas that express the strongest parts of who we are and what the world is all about. Lynch's rough voice pushes his material with relentless belief and determination. I can't imagine anyone else reading this as effectively. T.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Author David Foster Wallace once observed that, as a filmmaker, David Lynch seems to care more about getting inside the heads of his viewers than about communicating a particular message to them once he's inside. With this book, Lynch offers us a rare glimpse into his own head. A longtime practitioner of transcendental meditation, a set of meditation practices popular in the 1960s, Lynch is primarily interested in communicating to readers the powerful creative vitality that he has tapped through meditation. In 85 brief, airy chapters--many koanlike and some only a sentence or two long--Lynch discusses the techniques with which he expands his consciousness, catches ideas, and gives form to abstraction. (It's not all lofty stuff: milkshakes are, it turns out, a key vehicle for creativity.) In the process, he reveals just enough biographical information, philosophy of film, and general behind-the-scenes dirt (including the connection between Lynch's Lost Highway and O. J. Simpson)to keep the attention of those more interested in Lynch's films than in his consciousness. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Isight with Some Advertising
This is a very nice release for fans of David Lynch. It is like previous interviews he's done on DVD's (for example from Inland Empire) except expanded on, and more well thought out. He does advertise transcendental meditation, but this is not surprising to anybody who knows something about Lynch. It is not over-the-top, and it seems to fit with his description of his creative process. I have one reservation and that is his conflation of Grand Unified Field Theory with spirituality. This is not correct. Spirituality is different than science, just as religion and science are different. However, his later comment that meditation can help in health is completely believable, and should be further explored both by Yogis (who have probably explored it a lot in the past) and scientists. Science and spirituality are not in conflict, but they are also not the same and should not be confused.

interestive perspective
i really enjoyed this book. As both a fan of David Lynch's work and someone who is interested in meditation I foudn the book quite an interesting read.

If you are a creative person, go ahead and buy it, you wont be disappointed.

DEAR MR. Lynch, thank you, A Devoted Admirer
Mr. Lynch gives us examples of how Transcedental Meditation has inspired him, how he found solutions for the challenges he faced while working, how meditating became his second nature, an absolute necessity, a given in his everyday life, an invaluable treasure. I was already into Mind Control and visualization for over 10 years, recently I had started thinking that I had better try meditating and after reading this book I was "quietly" convinced that TM is what I want and need. I really wish I could find someone to teach me Transcedental Meditation and I will not stop searching for my Teacher (since there is no TM center in my city). Of course, I understand that becoming someone so successful, rich and famous as The Director, doesn't depend solely on practising meditation! It needs talents, intelligence, hard work...But I do believe that TM can help someone be the best she/he can be, given that he/she makes it a daily habit.