The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence Author: Josh Waitzkin | Language: English | ISBN:
B000QCQ970 | Format: PDF
The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence Description
Josh Waitzkin knows what it means to be at the top of his game. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at the age of nine, Waitzkin was catapulted into a media whirlwind as a teenager when his father's book
Searching for Bobby Fischer was made into a major motion picture. After dominating the scholastic chess world for ten years, Waitzkin expanded his horizons, taking on the martial art Tai Chi Chuan and ultimately earning the title of World Champion. How was he able to reach the pinnacle of two disciplines that on the surface seem so different? "I've come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess," he says. "What I am best at is the art of learning."
In his riveting new book,
The Art of Learning, Waitzkin tells his remarkable story of personal achievement and shares the principles of learning and performance that have propelled him to the top -- twice.
With a narrative that combines heart-stopping martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs with life lessons that speak to all of us,
The Art of Learning takes readers through Waitzkin's unique journey to excellence. He explains in clear detail how a well-thought-out, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. Waitzkin believes that achievement, even at the championship level, is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process. Rather than focusing on climactic wins, Waitzkin reveals the inner workings of his everyday method, from systematically triggering intuitive breakthroughs, to honing techniques into states of remarkable potency, to mastering the art of performance psychology.
Through his own example, Waitzkin explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you. Does your opponent make you angry? Waitzkin describes how to channel emotions into creative fuel. As he explains it, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths. He illustrates the exact routines that he has used in all of his competitions, whether mental or physical, so that you too can achieve your peak performance zone in any competitive or professional circumstance.
In stories ranging from his early years taking on chess hustlers as a seven year old in New York City's Washington Square Park, to dealing with the pressures of having a film made about his life, to International Chess Championships in India, Hungary, and Brazil, to gripping battles against powerhouse fighters in Taiwan in the Push Hands World Championships,
The Art of Learning encapsulates an extraordinary competitor's life lessons in a page-turning narrative.
- File Size: 472 KB
- Print Length: 292 pages
- Publisher: Free Press (May 8, 2007)
- Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000QCQ970
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #1
in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Tai Chi & Qi Gong - #1
in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Chess - #11
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Self-Help > Motivational
- #1
in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Tai Chi & Qi Gong - #1
in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Chess - #11
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Self-Help > Motivational
The Art of Learning as an autobiographical story makes for good reading. However, the book introduces itself, and seems to be marketed, as a practical guide for people interested in improving their own learning skills. I question how well the majority of people will be able to make much use of the book in that way.
Waitzkin's presentation and description of learning techniques is pretty vague. While I have little doubt that Josh Waitzkin is an accomplished learner, I don't think that he successfully, practically transmits what he knows about learning to the reader. It seems that he has an unusual capacity to learn, and while I don't think that that capacity is necessarily "genetic" or somehow hopelessly unavailable to those not blessed with it from birth or a very early age, I don't think that most people will improve their learning skills very much through Waitzkin's description of techniques that he may understand and be able to apply very easily, but which refer to and rely on processes and perceptions internal to him that can't, or at least aren't in this book, adequately conveyed through the written word. Though I think I may understand what "smaller circles" (one of the learning strategies Waitzkin outlines) means on some level, how to actually apply it to something I'm trying to learn is not clear to me (and the ideas behind it seem fairly cliche, like take one step at a time, you have to walk before you can run, etc.).
Though it could be argued that it's scope is more limited, for a book that provides more concrete methods for improving learning and performance, I'd recommend "The Inner Game of Tennis".
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