Episode · The Rich Roll Podcast · 2026-03-02
Books mentioned on The Handyman of High Art: Tom Sachs On Why Creativity Is The Enemy, Why Talent Is Overrated, & The Disciplines That Define A Life
Tom Sachs is a contemporary artist and cultural provocateur known for turning branded consumer objects into high art.
Tom Sachs recommended Finding Ultra by Rich Roll and Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees by Lawrence Weschler. Rich Roll discussed Tom Sachs Guide by Tom Sachs and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Finding Ultra
Finding Ultra is a memoir by Rich Roll that chronicles his transformative journey from battling severe alcohol addiction to becoming an extreme endurance athlete and ultramarathoner.
Recommended“And I think the thing that's maybe most valuable to come away from this podcast or reading Finding Ultra or reading the reading the Tom Sachs guide is or any self-help book, not that they're strictly self-help books, is that you're seeing the author's perspective.”
Where to get it
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Tom Sachs Guide
Discussed“Yeah, I mean, part of the the book, which, you know, we haven't even really gotten into the book specifically, but like Tom Sachs guide, like it is it is part like what you would expect in an art book with like beautiful photographs of your work, but it's really you know, very practical in the sense that you are”
Where to get it
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Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees
Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees by Lawrence Weschler is a celebrated biography of artist Irwin Robert that explores the intersection of perception, art, and the way human beings process visual reality.
Recommended“I grew up with it. It's how I found my calling by reading I don't know, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing That One Sees by Lawrence Weschler or uh reading Clement Greenberg or Rosalind Krauss.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Sure, but if you read Finding Ultra, you know, like I you know, I'm constantly banging on about the fact that like I don't think that I'm particularly talented at all as an athlete.”
“And I think the thing that's maybe most valuable to come away from this podcast or reading Finding Ultra or reading the reading the Tom Sachs guide is or any self-help book, not that they're strictly self-help books, is that you're seeing the author's perspective.”
“I would say buy this book because it's Look at you, you capitalist. Yeah, of course. plug in. Yeah, I would say buy this book because it's the story of how I did it. But use it to find how you did it and don't keep buying self-help books. Just buy one and write your own. This is my version”