The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor Kindle Edition

I've been taking acting classes for years, and have also read basically all the acting books. Most of the books are pretty useless, because most of what you need to learn comes from *doing* in classes which you can't get from reading, and the books treat aspects of acting either too superficially (e.g. a single page on substitutions) or else are too opinionated and polemical (you *must* do it this way and not that way).This is the book to read *after* you've taken classes for a year or two. Larry covers *everything*, describes everything with tremendous detail and justification, and tends not to take sides but explain how different techniques work for different people. Basically, he goes a level deeper that most acting coaches do, so you get a lot of the "why" you might be missing from class, or just fills in gaps of knowledge you have.So, it's just a masterpiece.BUT... the book bothers me because the cover is SO, SO, SO bad, SO cheesy. I had refused to buy it for years because with a cover so tasteless -- looks like it's from 1985, with the blood-red handwriting, the super-dramatic author headshot, that I couldn't believe any good coach would ever approve a cover so "slick" and faux-"serious" and completely devoid of life or joy. Even the title "Intent to Live" sounds fake-dramatic. It was only after an acting coach of mine told me it was the best book out there, that I took the plunge and read it.So buy the book and ignore the cover. Hopefully someday a new edition comes out with a cover that seems to actually reflect the book's content, instead of communicating the exact *opposite* of what's inside.

I graduated from the Yale School of Drama I also have a BFA from a four year conservatory. I'm not giving away any secrets by telling you that Larry documents just about everything you would learn in the best schools and maybe more. He gives you the best parts of the famous tools from.. Stanislavsky, Meisner, Adler and even Strasberg and shows you how to apply them together as one powerful technique. Throughout the book you can feel his love for the actor and the craft of acting through every chapter and his whole goal is to challenge you to take it seriously to become all you can be.I will admit that I was slightly bored through lots of it but that was only because for me these lessons were more reminders than enlightening new skills. But, if I was to recommend any book as a starting point for someone interested in becoming an actor, a REAL actor, I would definitely hand them this book. It's all in there! He covers pretty much everything.The only reason that I'm giving it a four star instead of five is that it could have been a little more of a fun read. Being someone that studied most of this already I would have loved to chuckle more. Sometimes, there were too many examples of movies and plays and personal performances in a specific chapter. Although, many examples might be extremely useful for a beginning actor.I will say that for someone that shies away from Lee Strasberg's affective memory exercises (think of my dead puppy), he clarifies and makes a great case for me to reconnect with it. Well done! And, you can feel him giving you a good kick in the ass if you're not pushing yourself hard enough. I'm definitely more inspired now!All in all, it's a book that should come with a degree!!

This is one of the books I use as a text book for the acting classes that I teach. Moss is able to clearly and succinctly share with the reader, the tools needed for acting (and *directing). Divided into useful chapters he breaks the process down in such a way that the reader can apply and fairly quickly put into action what they are reading. Universally my students have found it incredibly useful.*Any student of directing will find this book useful as Moss articulates the acting process in such a way that it parallels script analysis.

Larry's book really is an acting class within itself. He asks for you to read or watch all of what he references in the book. There are a LOT of references, so he really is taking you on a journey as an artist. If you read/watch all of the references, and read the book itself, and do the exercises....you can easily spend months or even a year learning from Larry.Great book for actors of all levels

I couldn’t have been more bless to have run into this book. It’s changed my personal and professional life greatly. I honestly can’t write a good enough review for this book. I 10/10, 100% recommend this book to anyone that takes their acting craft seriously. It is my bible

Mr. Moss has taught a few actors whom I have a ton of respect for and whose work I'm amazed by. That's why I absolutely had to read this book. It's amazing. Along with Stella Adler's The Art of Acting and On Method Acting by Edward Dwight Easty, Intent To Live is definitely among my favorite acting books and I will revisit it often.

Um....WOW. Just blown away by this book. Doing the exercises in this book has transformed my auditioning process and changed the art form for me dramatically. I look forward to getting auditions now just so I can keep practicing these tools. Larry Moss is just wonderful. It's my dream to work with him someday.

Buy Larry's book. It will not only enrich your acting, but it will also enrich your life. I have had this book for two years now and am constantly referring back to it (I especially love the "Monologue Workout Program" near the end of the book). I keep it on the bookshelf next to my bed so that it's always within reach.Along with Betsy Polatin's The Actor's Secret and Bill Connington's Physical Expression on Stage and Screen (both books on the Alexander Technique that are the perfect complement to Larry's book), The Intent to Live is as good as it gets outside of actually taking classes with him. Just wait and see what his approach does for you.

LARRY MOSS IS A LEGEND!! One I hope to meet one day! I’ve watched his interview over and over and over and this book is GOLD! He knows SO much about the business and is SO incredibly potently passionate. He trained with the best! I’ve no doubt if I am to sit in a class / coaching session, I would be transformed in the first 5 mins. Looked him up right after the interview - and so glad I could find this GEM!

Best acting book ever. Really insightful and detailed suggestions to improve acting. I'd love to attend one of Larry Moss workshops if I lived in the US.

I learned a lot from this book! Id definitely recommend it to new actors.

After reading the usual guff that passes for an acting book, I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I felt that Peter Brook, Bill Esper, Stella Adler & Stanislavsky were all too busy being pretentious and trying to prove how intelligent they are/were that they made their books self indulgent, unstructured and inaccessible. This book is like a textbook- full of useful examples and tips. Save your money on the others and just get this one.

The content of the book is great however there are two sections where the page numbers are out of sequence :152,155,156,159,160,163,164,153,154,157,158,161,162, 165 The pages are then ok until : 184,187,188,191,192,195,196,185,186,189,190, 193,194,197 Then it’s fine after that!I have added two photos for you to see