The Art of Creative Research: A Field Guide for Writers (One of the University of Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing) — By Phillip Gerard

“Is it wrong to use the word ‘thrilling’ for a book about research? Maybe, but as a longtime writing teacher, I am thrilled by the ideas in this book, ideas that push writers away from their small and self-conscious matter and outward into the greater world. Gerard shows us that research and creativity, far from being two opposite poles, are forever intertwined. This book is an inspiring map that leads us into the world of research, a world large enough to hold both romance and hard fact.” — David Gessner, author of All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West “Gerard fills in a missing part of our thinking about ‘creative writing’: how we inform ourselves. In nonfiction in particular, the writer can only write what she knows, and Gerard offers a map for how to get to a place of knowing. The research for artful writing must itself be artful, he says, and extend beyond Google into other kinds of archive. I love and recommend this book." — Ted Conove