The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles | 
 enlarge | Author: Steven Pressfield
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $6.70
You Save: $6.25 (48%)
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Rating:  137 reviews
Sales Rank: 2103
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0446691437
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.35
EAN: 9780446691437
ASIN: 0446691437
Publication Date: April 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
DO YOU: dream about writing the Great American Novel? regret not finishing your paintings, poems, or screenplays? want to start a business or charity? wish you could start dieting or exercising today? hope to run a marathon someday? If "yes," then you needTHE WAR OF ART Now, in this powerful, straight-from-the-hip examination of the internal obstacles to success, bestselling author Steven Pressfield shows readers how to identify, defeat, and unlock the inner barriers to creativity. THE WAR OF ART is an inspirational, funny, well-aimed kick in the pants guaranteed to galvanize every would-be artist, visionary, or entrepreneur. Steven Pressfield enjoys great international success as a bestselling novelist. But in order to reach the top he had to do a lot of work to fight the inner demons that told him he couldnt make it. THE WAR OF ART is his challenge to creative block, and his succinct, straight-from-the-hip style will help every reader unleash their personal ambitions, be they literary, artistic, or business-minded. According to Pressfield, the internal obstacle to success is Resistance. Resistance is the difference between the life you lead and the life you want to lead, and can take many forms. Pressfield shows readers how to identify and defeat Resistance at every turn and challenges them to change their amateurish, unsuccessful habits into a professional attitude that can get the job done. Finally, Sun Tzu for the soul! Inspirational, funny, and a great kick in the pants, THE WAR OF ART is the perfect book for anybody who had a goal circumvented by life and circumstance: which is to say, you and everybody youve ever met.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 132 more reviews...
 L. Ron Hubbard Would Be Proud December 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Steven Pressfield had the opportunity and premise to do something great here; however, 'great' is not at all what The War of Art is. An elitist, ego-centric, ethno-centric, uncompassionate, un-empathetic, and a narrow-boxed view of things (seemingly based in the school of Scientology) breakdown of procrastination is what you get. I understand that this book is meant to be a 'no-excuses' book camp for the mind. Motivation however does not have to be belittling. Pressfield manages to dispel psychology and modern medicine and the fact that some people have real problems. Moreover; he not only mocks the idea of socio-economic status being a real influence in procrastination and where life leads us; but he goes as far as to mock the culture(s) that may live within. Negatively referring to 'RAP' music and using the term 'Homies' in a discerning tone; as if an affluent male born in 1943 is such an expert to comment on these things.
Take out the fact that over 80% of this book has 1 page chapters, or that the same message is delivered in this 'cliff's notes' style; what Pressfield has done is to take his own life and his own experiences and said "This is how I see it; this is how it is; everyone in this world is afforded the same health and opportunities as me; see how I can fit everything into a neat box?". If the book was title "I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread and because I'm not lazy; neither should you be"; then you'd have a winner on your hand.
 I felt as if this was written directly for me... November 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had seen the book The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield recommended by quite a few experts in the field of creativity and productivity. I finally got around to putting it on hold at the library, and I eventually worked my way to the top. That should tell you something considering the book was released in 2002, and it still had a hold backlog. After finishing it (it's not very long), I'll be buying my own copy for reference. I felt as if I was looking at myself on most of the pages.
Contents:
Book One: Resistance - Defining the Enemy
Book Two: Combating Resistance - Turning Pro
Book Three: Beyond Resistance - The Higher Realm
Pressfield's premise is that resistance is our enemy that fights and prevents us from living the life and becoming the person we want to be. Most observations occupy just a page or two, with titles like Resistance and Trouble and Resistance Never Sleeps. The style is reminiscent of the book The Art of War (hence, the title...), and the flow progresses from identifying how resistence affects your creativity and progress, to how being a professional means going to war against resistance every day, to accepting the existence of "muses" that will appear and help you create if you put in the time and effort to be professional and fight resistance. Since Pressfield is a writer, you often see examples centering around that particular creative outlet. But in reality, these concepts apply to all creative pursuits.
Since I tend to relate well to the concept of "going to war" with elements in your life that hold you back, The War of Art resonates with me. Add to that a real problem I have with resistance, and this book felt like it was written explicitly for me. On top of understanding and relating to the effects of resistance, I also thoroughly understood and accepted the concept of "going pro". Think of it being a soldier who doesn't whine and complain about how things are. They simply do their jobs, commit to excellence in their core skills, and know that the creativity muses will show up if they've done their part in the process.
This is another example of a book addressing an area of my life at the exact time I'm struggling with it. I'll be ordering my own copy of The War of Art and internalizing many of the concepts. I'll then be able to close the gap between the life I live and the life I could be living, if only I didn't succumb to resistance on a regular basis.
More about procrastination than creativit October 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you have already read psychology books dealing with the topic of procrastination
(in this book called resistance), then you might find this book a little bit boring.
It is more kind of an essay about this topic from the perspective a professional writer (a person who wants to be creative) than a handbook how to fight it. If you are interested in the topic of procrastination, I would rather recommend to read the chapter about procrastination from the book Feeling Good. Or recently I read the book Power of full engagement, which is addressing this topic as well and offer more tricks.
Find your purpose October 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There is an abundance of reasons why a person should read this book, and each person will undoubtedly take something out of reading this book. Do you believe that you have an absolute purpose in this world? Are you here to write the next great American novel? Are you hear to compose a masterpiece? Are you here to become the greatest soccer player in the history of the game? If you believe you have a purpose, you need to figure out how to win the psychological battles you have within yourself, defeat the demons that are keeping you from reaching your full potential. That's what this book is all about, and if you lend yourself to it, submit to what the book has to say, you'll come out with some answers, some energy, and some results.
As fierce as it gets October 7, 2008
I have purchased ten copies of this book, and I imagine I will be ordering more, to give to all of my artist friends. This is a powerful book that inspires the reader to take bold leaps in their creative journeys...it has become my artistic manifesto!
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