Phil Beadle knows a bit about bringing creative projects to fruit. His self-described 'renaissance dilettantism' is best summed up by Mojo magazine's description of him as a 'burnished voice soul man and left wing educationalist'. He is the author of ten books on a variety of subjects, including the acclaimed Dancing About Architecture, described in Brain Pickings as 'a strong, pointed conceptual vision for the nature and origin of creativity'. As songwriter Philip Kane, his work has been described in Uncut magazine as having 'novelistic range and ambition' and in Mojo as having a 'rare ability to find romance in the dirt' along with 'bleakly literate lyricism'. He has won national awards for both teaching and broadcasting, was a columnist for the Guardian newspaper for nine years and has written for every broadsheet newspaper in the UK, as well as the Sydney Morning Herald. Phil is also one of the most experienced, gifted and funniest public speakers in the UK.
Rules for Mavericks is a unique and compelling read, packed with
guidance for the less maverick amongst us. Reflecting on his own
experiences and the experiences of other creative non-conformists
(from Christopher Hitchens to Joni Mitchell via David Bowie) Phil
Beadle provides us with strategies for improving creative output,
for challenging authority, for fighting the good fight when things
get tough and for learning from the many inevitable mistakes we
will make in the days and years ahead. Unconventional and
inspiring, Rules for Mavericks may just give you the courage you
need to shrug off convention and release your inner dissident.Bob
Pritchard, teacher, Hilbre High School
Rules for Mavericks is irreverent, stimulating and absorbing.
There's a mixture of humour and wisdom on every page. It's an
insight into how thinking like a maverick can have practical
benefits. Phil Beadle writes in a way that is personal and
therefore easy to relate to. He demonstrates how deciding to think
and behave like a maverick can change your work and personal life
for the better.Rod Judkins, author of The Art of Creative
Thinking
Phil Beadle has written a seminal piece of work exploring
creativity and the timely need for Maverick behaviour in a
perpetuated mediocre world. With shades of Hakim Bey's aThe
Temporary Autonomous Zonea, the book takes the reader on a personal
and philosophical journey through change, performance and failure.
You know that when a book begins with an affirmation of the
protests of aRadical Muslim Feminist' Safia Aidid it is going to
strike at the very heart of conservative establishment and it does
so with sophistication of thought and style. With a layout that
seems to be inspired by McLuhan's aThe Medium is the Massagea,
Beadle will guide you - almost Diffordesque at times - through the
emotional pitfalls and loneliness of authentic creation, whilst at
other points in the book he stands back and ridicules the
pretension of our successes. Either way, the book needs to be read
by anyone brave enough and honest enough to understand the need for
rejecting conformity and challenging blandness. This book will
certainly be ridiculed, misunderstood and overlooked by the
dullards Beadle urges you to fight against, but as the writer
himself encourages, aSmile at them. They hate this. And fire your
energy and your anger into your work.aTait Coles, Assistant
Principal, Head of ITT across a group of schools in Bradford
Phil Beadle is one of the most important voices in British
education. His latest book is not just about the true nature of the
word amaverick'. It is about perhaps the most important educational
gift we can give, namely the courage and curiosity to truly be
ourselves and not apologise for it. Maverick, as he explains, is a
label often stuck on people who dare to challenge convention. It is
not something they necessarily chose for themselves. But convention
can never adequately describe us. Our deepest hopes and dreams are
far too profound for it. Obsequious deference to convention can
never really make great scientific breakthroughs, create great art
or stand against tyranny. Nor can it speak to the hunger for
learning in any child. It is a prison all of its own. Phil is not
just some provocateur or agitator, as much as those who fear
mavericks might like to belittle him with that cosy and
ill-explored label. He is allergic to bullshit and he speaks for
freedom against a mediocrity that can ruin lives.Ben Walden,
Artistic Director, Contender Charlie
The successor to Camus's aThe Rebel', Phil Beadle's aRues for
Mavericks' rocks, dips and swerves like no other book of this type
ever has. It is a true original combining anthropology and
philosophy with a new way of looking at our world. It is
revolutionary in scope and speaks not solely to intellectual, but
to all of us. The clarity of Phil's writing opens up the closed and
high grounds and lets us all in to the palace of intelligence. This
is no mean achievement and a more than must read.Jim Douglas,
Novelist, aTokyo Nightsa
Voices in the wilderness are seldom heard with clarity. This book
is the exception. Mavericks can't be made, but they can be given
the space and support to fly in the face of conformity with
alacrity. Phil Beadle wears the badge conferred on him with
uncomfortable reticence, but delivers a message in tune with his
original thinking, emphasising the importance of straying from the
flock whilst hiding in full sight of the wolves. Sometimes
controversial, but never less than eye-opening and
thought-provoking, which is what any self-respecting moderate
demands of their mavericks. As society careers towards
ever-narrowing options in a disenfranchised democracy designed to
govern from the top down, polemicists become ever more important
voices: a rule book for railing against the top might just be the
most useful tool of all. Read it and build with it.Pete Wilkinson,
Director, The Jerwood Space
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