The War of Art (Unabridged)
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4.0 • 127 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Think of The War of Art as tough love...for yourself.
Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us. Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.
Though it was written for writers, it has been embraced by business entrepreneurs, actors, dancers, painters, photographers, filmmakers, military service members, and thousands of others around the world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Whether your passion is writing, painting, or any other creative pursuit, Steven Pressfield is about to light the proverbial fire under your butt. With his straightforward motivational guide, the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance distills the artist’s struggle to one brilliantly simple principle: Resistance. Resistance is the force that keeps you too bogged down with fears that you aren’t good enough, too stuck waiting for “inspiration” to strike, or too distracted by an email or a show to sit down and actually do your art. Pressfield, a former marine, reads his audiobook with a drill sergeant’s precision, which is perfect for his no-nonsense, to-the-point advice. He reminds us that greats from William Shakespeare to Henry Fonda faced this same self-doubt and procrastination—and that their success came from overcoming resistance and working on their craft every single day. The War of Art had us ready to put the pedal to the creative metal even before we were done listening.
Customer Reviews
Resistance, resistance, resistance.
This is already a short book and yet it feels like it was written by a high school student trying to reach the minimum word count for their assessment. The term “resistance” is used on repeated so frequently that I wonder if the author an editor have ever heard of a thesaurus.
The actual message behind the book is similarly shallow and effectively boils down to the author’s belief that resistance is the root of all the world’s problems, but failing to offer any useful advice, or even clear definitions.
The author sounds like the kind of person who fancies themselves as a “new age thinker” who has cracked the code to success, thinks it’s so simple, and wonders why everyone doesn’t just do it like him. He demonstrates an almost negligent understanding of the world and try’s to convey his message not through well researched and thought out arguments, but through the use of metaphor and superficial, motivational style mantras. His writing suggests an alarming degree of naivety, and self-assurance that their doctrine is the “right way”.
Save yourself your time and don’t bother with such a tragic book. The book could have been a great opportunity to promote the value of the creative arts, self-expression, and exploration of individual meaning. Instead, it’s just some knuckle head basically saying “resistance bad!” over and over again. So disappointing!
Disappointing
It was recommended so I gave it a try. I couldn’t for the life of me understand his points.
Hit and miss
It had some good points, like working hard for what you want, getting into a routine and what not. Then it went super weird like pantheism, ‘muses’ etc. In short it has a misplaced sense of the Divine.