Book Freak #190: Born Standing Up

Insights into the creative process and the price of fame

Get Born Standing Up

Steve Martin recounts his 18-year journey from an amateur magician to a comedy superstar. It’s filled with invaluable insights into the creative process and the price of fame.

Core Principles

Embrace Originality Through Elimination

Martin discovered that true comedy innovation came from removing rather than adding elements. He systematically eliminated punch lines, traditional setups, and familiar comedy structures, creating tension without release. This approach forced audiences to find their own moments to laugh, making the experience more personal and memorable. The principle applies beyond comedy — breakthrough innovation often requires abandoning conventional approaches entirely.

Precision Creates Movement

Every gesture, pause, and word must serve the performance. Martin learned that comedy required the same attention to detail as classical music or dance, where timing and physical expression were as crucial as the words themselves. He developed a philosophy that “precision was moving the plot forward, was filling every moment with content, was keeping the audience engaged.”

Consistent Practice Over Natural Talent

Martin openly admits he ”was not naturally talented — I didn’t sing, dance, or act — though working around that minor detail made me inventive.” He performed thousands of shows, often multiple times per night, refining his act through direct audience feedback. His success came from treating every performance as both a show and a learning opportunity, constantly adjusting and improving based on real-world results.

Know When to Walk Away

At the height of his stand-up success, performing for arena crowds of 20,000 people or more, Martin recognized that his art form had reached its natural conclusion. He walked away from lucrative contracts and massive audiences because he understood that continuing would only diminish, rather than enhance, his artistic legacy. This principle of strategic abandonment requires courage but often leads to greater creative fulfillment.

Try It Now

1. Record yourself practicing your craft for one week, then review the recordings to identify patterns and areas for improvement — just as Martin used cassette recordings to refine his performances.
2. Eliminate one conventional element from your creative work and observe how the absence forces new solutions or approaches.
3. Set a specific practice schedule and track your hours, treating consistency as more important than natural ability or inspiration.
4. Identify one project or commitment you should abandon to make room for higher-potential opportunities, even if the current situation feels comfortable or profitable.
5. Write down your definition of success for your current creative endeavor, including the criteria that would signal it’s time to move on to something new.

Quotes

“I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product. The course was more plodding than heroic: I did not strive valiantly against doubters but took incremental steps studded with a few intuitive leaps.”

“My most persistent memory of stand-up is of my mouth being in the present and my mind being in the future: the mouth speaking the line, the body delivering the gesture, while the mind looks back, observing, analyzing, judging, worrying, and then deciding when and what to say next.”

08/1/25

Travel Ring Light/Using Hotel Points/Musical Comebacks

Nomadico issue #165

Compact Ring Light for Video Calls

I sometimes struggle to find a good lighting spot for video calls while in random hotel rooms and apartments abroad, but those meetings are too infrequent to justify carrying bulky extra equipment. A solution arrived recently via a trade show giveaway: a clip-on ring light that’s flat and easy to pack. Mine came with a destination logo on it, but you can buy one on Amazon for under $8 here. It has 3 brightness levels and recharges by USB.

Europe’s New Entry Fee, Take 12

Good news/bad news on the ETIAS EU visa that you’re not supposed to call a visa. This “permission to visit” with fingerprints and facial recognition has been pushed back to Q3 2026. The bad news is, the price for Americans has been hiked from 7 euros to 20 before it even launched. See the update here.

Hotel Points in Your Pocket

I treat hotel loyalty point balances like a combined travel savings account. The currency can get me out of a jam, take the sting out of an expensive city visit, or widen my flight options on long hauls. I cashed some in this week for that last category, enabling me to snag the cheapest and most convenient option for a flight from Paris all the way to Los Cabos and then enabling me to take advantage of a cheap business class airline points fare all the way across North America. Next up will be a free stay during a necessary stop in Las Vegas. See more here, with links to top credit cards for racking up a big balance: Save Hotel Points to Solve Travel Problems.

Good Geezer Music

Looking for some new music to stream or download for your travels? Several recent releases are great comebacks by legendary figures. The new albums from Van Morrison (age 79), Neil Young (79), Suzanne Vega (66), and Public Enemy (64 and 66) are downright great at times if you are a fan of their classics. There are a few throwaway tracks on each, but in the age of streaming playlists, you can pick the winners for your appropriate playlist. The latest from David Byrne (73) drops in September.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

07/31/25

What’s in my NOW? — Maria Li

issue #218

Recently retired print production professional. Current occupation: Chief Optimization Officer (COO) of Meum, Inc.

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PHYSICAL

• My electric Singer sewing machine: for making bespoke things (a button-down shirt with loop closures, the right-sized EDC bag) for myself and my friends and for mending or re-making things I already have.
• All-weather, seasonless, ankle-supporting, no-lace, slip-on, everyday Blundstone boots.
• Small, strong magnets for managing the weekly flotsam and jetsam of scribbled notes, coupons, bills, cards, receipts, tickets, postcards, photos, takeout menus, psa flyers and other ephemera.

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DIGITAL

• FOSS, free open source software, for ad-free, mostly free or pay-what-you-can or -want, creative, quirky-fun utilities (aneko, f-droid.org) and games (kumquats, f-droid.org); and an ebook reader that can reflow text/pictures in OCR’d PDFs.
• The pinetime $27, water-resistant, dustproof smartwatch: the basic features have all that I need – a step counter, heart rate monitor (a bit wonky), 5-day weather (just added); a work-in-progress with a charge that lasts for 2 days or more depending on settings configuration. Other apps included that I don’t use daily: doodle app, flashlight; games; alarm, music controller; notifications

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INVISIBLE

Living in a walkable city, where everything you need is a few minutes’ walk away.

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07/30/25

My Dad Used to Be So Cool / Dear Data

Issue No. 77

MY DAD USED TO BE SO COOL – SO WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?

My Dad Used to Be So Cool
by Keith Negley
Flying Eye Books
2016, 48 pages, 9.1 x 10.7 x 0.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

To believe that your own parents are “boring” or “typical” is a pretty common thought amongst children. Unless your parent is a spy or superhero, you aren’t going to refer to them as “cool.” And why would you?

Keith Negley’s book, My Dad Used to Be so Cool, illustrates the dynamic between a son and his father. The story is told from the son’s point of view as we journey through his fantasies of what his father used to be like when he was younger. Through descriptive illustrations and minimal word usage, a world that we are all too familiar with is created. The son sees his father doing laundry and vacuuming just like every other child has seen their parent do. Nothing particularly “cool” about those daily tasks, right? The son begs the question, “What happened?” A life event changed the father from a tattooed rock and roll super star to a laundry-folding dad. What was it? The answer – his son.

Negley perfectly demonstrates the sacrifices a parent makes for their child, but how beautiful those sacrifices really are. This story opened my eyes to how “cool” my own parents actually are. At 18 years old, I am not a parent but I can honestly say that the daily struggles and chores that any parent deals with are nothing short of remarkable.

This is a truly heart-warming tale and I would strongly recommend that not only children read this book but adults as well. The story is a solid reminder to appreciate our parents and if you are a parent, congratulate yourself because you are awesome. I look forward to my child asking me, “Did you use to be cool?” I’ll laugh and smile. “You know, I was never that cool anyway.” – Madeline Shapiro

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DEAR DATA – TWO WOMEN EXPLORE THEIR FRIENDSHIP THROUGH DATA ANALYSIS AND MAIL ART

Dear Data
by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
Princeton Architectural Press
2016, 288 pages, 8.4 x 11.2 x 1 inches (softcover)

Buy on Amazon

I have always had a deep fascination with the graphical representation of data. Being mildly dyslexic, numbers make my head hurt. Being extremely visual, numbers only come alive for me when they take color, shape, or are otherwise rendered in some visual way. Show me numbers and they will have little impact. Show me a beautiful graphical representation of those numbers and I will remember them forever. Dear Data is a rich and inspiring teasure-trove of creatively rendereded data, giving visual shape to the more mundane aspects of the two authors’ lives.

Dear Data is the result of a year-long project that two designer friends undertook. For one year, Giorgia Lupi, an Italian living in New York, and Stefanie Posavec, an American in London, gathered data around a theme each week, things like the number of times they said “Thank you,” the numbers of people they met (and how they connected), the numbers (and types) of doorways they walked through, the number of times they each looked at a clock, etc. With this data in hand, they would render a postcard with an artful, graphical presentation of their week and send it to the other. This book collects all 52 weeks, along with lots of additional art, insight, and asides.

The result is a very lovely book and a very unique way of exploring a friendship while more deeply exploring oneself in the process. Reading through Dear Data and pouring over all of the curious and clever charts, graphs, and diagrams they created, you really feel both women making unique discoveries about themselves, identifying previously unseen patterns in their behavior, and in the very woodwork of their lives.

This book will likely be an inspiration to anyone who works in rendering data, who is interested in mail art or art journaling, and anyone who simply enjoys exploring the creatively examined life. – Gareth Branwyn

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Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

07/29/25

Urban Biking

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 148

Bicycle survival skills

Urban Bikers’ Tricks & Tips

I started riding a bike for the first time as an adult, at age 37. After an onslaught of expensive auto repairs and with the encouragement of my partner who is a bike commuter, I sold my automobile. Overnight, literally, I became a bike commuter. Living in San Francisco and facing a 16 mile daily commute to work was daunting, to say the least. Urban Bikers’ has given me the know how and skills to get around the city and and out of town. This book covers everything – maintenance basics, avoiding theft, getting around in traffic, inclement weather – it’s there. What’s more, the illustrations make me laugh out loud. It is a savvy and wry vote of confidence for the urban cyclist – novice or otherwise. — Michele McGinnis

• Remember that on a street, you either share the lane (cars pass next to you) or take the lane (you ride in the middle, and cars stay behind you or pass in another lane).
• In the door zone (the 3 or 4 feet next to parked cars in which you could get hit by an opening door), keep track of what’s behind you: If you have to swerve suddenly, you could get hit by traffic. Also, look for stretches where you can ride out of the door zone.
• Cross locking. When you cross lock your bike, you use two different lock systems at once – such as a U lock and a cable. Cross locking forces thieves to spend more time and use more than one kind of tool. If a thief sees that your bike is cross locked, he might move on to another bike that isn’t.

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Detachable cycling hitch for kids

Trail-Gator Bike Tow Bar

What sold me on the Trail-Gator was that I can attach my son’s current bicycle to the back of my bike. We can ride together along the main roads, however, when we get to our destination, I can easily unhook his bicycle and let him ride around and have fun. The towbar tucks away nicely next to the rear wheel when not in use.

I’ve used conventional bike trailers before, and I can tell no difference in the ride. I had no trouble installing the kit, and it feels very stable when we ride together. My five-year-old son loves riding his bike, and now we can go exploring together. I also really like the fact I can use the Trail-Gator with multiple bikes. When my three-year-old daughter is ready for her first bike, we can easily move the receiver hitch over. — Jeff Curry

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Best urban bike lock Kryptonite

Evolution U-Lock

I live in Baltimore, a city that still struggles with crime. As such, I take the security of my belongings seriously, and no place is this more evident than with the thing I most often leave in public: my bike.

In the past, and in safer cities, I have used steel cable locks without any problems. However, while locking my bike up around Baltimore I would frequently see the cut remains of thick steel cable locks. My dismay was reinforced when I saw a video of the time (mere seconds) it took to cut through even a thick steel cable lock with a pair of bolt cutters. Disconcerted, I asked my bike-savvy friends for a better solution. The universal answer was a Kryptonite U-lock coupled with a steel cable used to lock both your front and rear wheel to the bike frame and an immovable object.

I have a mixed history with Kryptonite. Eight years ago I owned and used an early version of their U-lock. Its size, weight, and ungainliness left much to be desired. In addition the model I owned had an embarrassing reputation for being picked by nothing more than a simple Bic pen. So I was wary when everybody and anybody with any knowledge about urban bike riding told me to use a Kryptonite lock.

After a few months with the new U-lock it is clear that eight years of substantial design changes have made a difference. Not only have they fixed almost every issue I had with my old U-lock, but they have made it smaller, lighter, and more secure.

Favored by bike couriers, the U-Lock is designed to couple the front wheel to the frame of the bike while locking to an external post, stop sign, or other immovable object. What Kryptonite has done to make this more usable is by shrinking the width and length of the U-lock so that it fits snugly into most back pockets (while the shorter length means it doesn’t fall out while riding). This subtle change makes it far easier to carry the lock thereby avoiding the need for a bag, or even for attaching it to the frame of the bike through a plastic connector (which are, at best, unreliable and prone to breaking).

In shrinking the lock for portability Kryptonite has also made it more difficult for bike thieves to steal the bike by preventing them from fitting a car jack between the lock and the steel bar (the main technique used to bust larger U-locks).

The one downside to Krytponite’s U-lock will always be its significant heft. The lock is predominantly made up of a solid chunk of hardened steel, and as such it weighs a considerable amount. But the knowledge that my bike is safer is much less of a burden than the few ounces of steel. — Oliver Hulland

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Hanging bike storage

Dero Track Rack

I bought this hanging bike storage system on a recommendation from a bike junkie friend who owned 8 or more bicycles. Tandems, single speed, mountain bikes, road bikes: you name it, he had one, and he stored it on his track rack.

My friend did the heavy work with the research and ultimately recommended the Dero Track Rack when I asked him how to solve my bicycle storage problem. The track went into the basement ceiling with no problem at all: lag bolts into the overhead joists. The track is super strong. The rollers that install in the track look like they are machined to aircraft standards. In short the whole getup is first rate.

The track has rollers that glide along the track and suspended beneath are a number of “S-hooks” from which you hang the wheel of a bike. What is amazing is how you can move the bikes along the track much the same way you slide shirts in your closet…only easier. The Track Rack has been a lifesaver for me, and now all my bikes are neatly organized and hang from the ceiling.

They are secured so there is absolutely no chance they will be knocked over by anybody. The Track Rack has moved from the basement to the garage, and when I sold the house I made sure to take the Dero Track Rack with me. I can’t see ever parting ways with my Dero Track Rack. It is THAT cool. — Bruce Tunno

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Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

07/28/25

MyLens AI/Perfect book light/Stop a dog attack

Recomendo - issue #472

Transform content into effective visuals

An AI tool I’m most excited about right now is MyLens AI, which takes your pasted text, webpages, PDFs, spreadsheets, and even YouTube videos and instantly turns them into interactive visuals — like mind maps, flowcharts, and timelines. With just one click, you can expand, edit, explore connections, or add more — deepening your diagrams and charts. It’s really useful for visualizing dense information and untangling complicated concepts. I signed up for the paid version right away, so I can’t really speak to what the free tier offers, but I do know there is one. — CD

Perfect paper book light

I do most of my reading on a Kindle at night, which has prevented me from reading paper books, which I have become nostalgic for. I bought this inexpensive Glocusent bookmark-style light, which has three color temperatures (I use amber), a tilt-swivel light, and five brightness levels. It’s small and unobtrusive, and the USB-C rechargeable battery lasts weeks of nightly reading. — MF

Stop a dog attack

I have not used this technique myself to stop a dog attacking another person or, more likely, another dog. It is basically a way to chokehold the attacking dog with its collar or leash. So I can’t vouch for the technique on this American Standard Dog Training channel, but it seems reasonable to me and is what I would try if I encountered this situation. Skip to minute 6:20 to see the methods. — KK

Favorite way to discover new music

Recently, I stayed with a friend and expat in London, and he introduced me to his favorite music station—LA-based KCRW’s Eclectic24. I was surprised to travel so far only to discover something local to bring back home, but it truly deserves to be a worldwide treasure. Every song is hand-curated by real radio DJs—not algorithms—effortlessly blending indie, rock, electronic, hip-hop, soul, classics, and global beats into a pure, uninterrupted, 24-hour listening experience. You can stream for free on their website, but the best way to listen is through the app (iOS, Android), where you can see the playlist in real time and save your favorite tracks to your personal Spotify or Apple Music playlist. — CD

Shipping a bike

Bike touring, or bikepacking, is a great way to travel. But getting your bike to and from the destination is not trivial. Most airlines consider a tightly packed boxed bicycle as checked luggage, going at checked luggage rates. The key is a good bike box. You can get a good box for bicycles at a bike store for free because all their new bikes are shipped in these boxes. There are bike shops everywhere in the world, which is good for finding a box on your way back. You can also ship bikes within the US via UPS; the box will fit under their max dimensions. — KK

One app for all messages

I constantly switch between iMessage, Google Chat, Instagram DMs, Slack, Signal, and WhatsApp to send messages to friends and colleagues. Sometimes I miss important messages because I forget which platform a specific person or group prefers to use, leading me to check the wrong apps or overlook notifications from the right ones. I recently started using Beeper, a desktop and phone app that combines all of these platforms and more into a single messaging environment. It’s free to use for up to 6 platforms; if you need more, it’s $10 a month. — MF

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07/27/25

What’s in my NOW? — Maria Li