Others know him for his equally demented hour-long TV series “Twin Peaks,” about an unconventional FBI agent investigating a murder in an off-kilter small town.

But for all of his work, it’s hard to draw a bead on Lynch. Is he just a wild-haired, iconoclastic auteur just this side of crazy, as his public image demonstrates? Or is there something deeper going on?

The answer, or at least something close to it, comes in the form of Lynch’s latest book, “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity,” a curious mixture of new age self-help for the creative and a kind of informal autobiography.

The book isn’t really a book — it is instead more of a collection of musings and observations on everything from the benefits of transcendental meditation (Lynch, evidently, is a longtime practitioner), the idea of identity, religion, drugs and the nature of success and failure. The sections are never longer than a couple of pages, and the ideas are always self-contained, allowing the reader to pick it up and put it down at leisure.

In it, Lynch offers the young artist helpful pieces of advice, like the nature of the “suffering” artist: “Let your characters do the suffering,” Lynch says. “You can show it, but you don’t have to go through it.”

His advice bounces from lessons buried in various situations to more straightforward observations, going as far as to compare finding your bliss to donning a flak jacket to protect yourself from negativity.

Though the topics could easily lead one to believe that the book is a lovey-dovey piece of new-age, feel-good crap, it’s anything but.

The topics are likely saved by Lynch’s informal, self-deprecating and ultimately serene and clear writing style.

Reading this isn’t like being preached to by a Hare Krishna — it’s like having an interesting discussion about creativity, spirituality and life in general with a wise older friend.

Lynch doesn’t preach — he barely even suggests — but what he says makes sense, and it’s delivered in a very lucid style.

Ostensibly a book designed to help people out of their creative funk, “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity” slowly divulges more and more about Lynch in the form of his charming anecdotes about his career and life before and after fame.

As the book goes on, the reader gets a greater sense of Lynch’s worldview and his approach to his material.

It makes for a fascinating and relaxed view of the creative process.

Even if you don’t know or like Lynch, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in exploring his or her creativity.

At its best, the book offers ways to overcome a creative block — at its worst, it at least shows you that you are not alone.