This is the only self-help book I've ever read. It's not the only one due to an opinion thinking there's anything wrong with self-help books. I am sure there are good ones and bad ones, and I definitely need help with all sorts of things. It's just the only one I've found that tackles one of the things wrong with me that I care enough about to want to fix or at least consider. The book is a quick read about creativity and the thousands of little things that we let keep us from actually creating.

He is a successful novelist and has had at least one of his novels made into a film (Bagger Vance); I am willing to listen to the advice of anyone who's pulled off that trick.

Pressfield is a masculine writer and it comes across in his advice as well, so I can see how this book might appeal to men more readily than women. Keep in mind he is trying to get you off your ass and past whatever resistance you may be fostering.

The first section does an excellent job identifying the problems that keep us from creating and boils them down to a term--resistance. There were a lot of "no shit" moments for me here.

The second section is a call to action, mostly by way of example and is also excellent.

Toward the end there are parts where he gets a little abstract/mystical and he warns you, but there's wisdom here too and I think something to the idea of bad things tend to happen when we stifle our better desires.

A good book to get you working.

Hello, my name is Makeba and it has been 22 days since I've thought about writing and decided to do something else instead. I write everyday, and this book helped me do it.

"The War of Art" made me feel bad about my relationship with the creative process. She would invite me out and I'd decide to wash my hair instead. He would call and I'd push the button that sent it straight to voicemail. I was a lousy friend. Illuminating what Pressfield defines as resistance and turning pro turned the tables on myself and forced me to take a hard look at my habits and decide if I was hungry enough to change them. I'm on day three of beans and rice; I'm hungry. I started the book identifying with the person who wrote the forward-- a fellow procrastinator capable of banging out a decent product-- and finished it seeking ways to exhibit the same qualities Steven has-- discipline, integrity, and patience. Highly Recommended!

Pressfield argues our inner Resistance is in many ways our self-destructive behavior that keeps us from realizing our true potential.

He does an excellent job of describing how our inner Resistance will present itself and what we can do to overcome it. As with most things, the answer is simple, but Pressfield does such an excellent job of succinctly laying it out in front of you. No extra fluff, no bullshit, no hack-ish behavior, just to the point (thank god).

And while I do not believe in God, Pressfield’s use of God, angels, heaven, the Greek gods, and more were easily digestible as metaphors. And, honestly, has me questioning my beliefs a bit. There are reasons why ancient texts, stories, tales, and myths carry on for centuries.

Our truth is out there. We just need to listen above, put in the work, and find it.

I originally rated this 3 stars, but after finding myself returning to it again and again, i feel compelled to revise my original opinion.

This is a magnificent, succinct book of inspiration and motivation for writers. You can literally pick it up, flip to nearly any page, and find something worthwhile.

I have this friend, this enabler named Renee, and she told me about a blog I had been purposely ignoring because it was all about the books. The blog is Modern Mrs. Darcy and she sends out Kindle deals daily and they are usually the better Kindle deals for literary sorts.

All that to say that I bought this for no reason except it was on sale and I call myself a writer sometimes.

This is not a profound book but it is very helpful for the writer and the artist. I enjoyed the peek into Mr. Pressfield's writing life and hearing about his failures. In that respect it was a hopeful book.
I also agree with him on some levels about how "the muse" actually works. It rang true and gave me courage.

Not a bad deal. Thanks,Renee.

It's more than worth the price of admission for anyone in a creative field. Clear, inspiring, and short. (Also, inexpensive, which seems remarkably fair in this era.)

Yes, roughly half of the book is a little... ethereal, perhaps. More Pressfield's life philosophy and spirituality than anything, and not helpful to me. But I'm not going to knock a star off it for that. I've read too many business books that are 15 pages of gold surrounded by 200 pages of fluff to get angry when an author legitimately gives a work his all--and gives 50 pages of gold and 50 pages of Not For Me, Thanks.

Where it's good, it's great. I highlighted many, many passages. It left me hungry to go do more work.

This was a 4-start book until near the end, when Pressfield sets up what I consider a false opposition between creating for an audience and being true to yourself. We don't consider J.S. Bach a lesser artist for having produced his works for patrons, do we?

The War of Art was published before the idea of "1000 true fans" gained currency - a group of people who are, in effect, your patrons, who you create your material for and who, in turn, will buy pretty much anything from you. I wonder if Pressfield would still make such a strong dichotomy and cling so hard to the Romantic myth of the loner artist who produces brilliant work that often isn't appreciated by the masses. The modern reality (which the publishing industry needs to embrace, or it's doomed), is that there's no future in making things at random and firing them out at an uncomprehended public in the hope that they'll like one for some inscrutable reason, and buy enough copies to compensate for all the failures. Being in touch with your audience is just as important as being in touch with yourself, and the two are not mutually exclusive.

The earlier part of the book, though, on overcoming resistance, is excellent and worthwhile, and I do recommend it.

Válka umění - psychoterapeutický deník, který vás neposune

„Kniha War of Art je koktejlem z čirého kofeinu, adrenalinu a LSD. Vystupte ze svého těla, shlédněte na to, jak nevědomky sabotujete svou vlastní práci, a vraťte se z tripu jako válečníci.“, tak láká Michal Kašpárek na recenzi Války umění – popis knihy mě před lety nadchl a namotivoval. Dneska můžu s pokřiveným obličejem říct – „jo, ta recenze je napsané lépe než kniha, ale slibuje nesplnitelné“.

Steven Pressfield sepsal dílo, které vám má pomoci otevřít se kreativitě. Což může fungovat, ale jen pokud věříte, že kreativita, podobně jako v knize popisovaný Odpor, je transcendentální energií, která do vás vstupuje bez vašeho vědomí a „snaží“ se dosáhnout jasně předurčených cílů. Pojetí kreativity a vlastně i celého života tak autor chápe striktně z pohledu esencialismu.

Namísto knihy, která na obálce slibuje „Odblokujte svou kreativitu a vyhrajte tvůrčí bitvy“, dostanete jen další pokus o rádoby inspirativní návod s kopou hlubokých mouder a životních zkušeností. Musím říct, že mě píchlo u boku, když Pressfield píše o tom, že se jedná o popularizační literaturu. Oblasti, které popularizuje totiž jsou:
– životní zkušenosti z dodávky,
– filozofie z kurzů New Age,
– autorův vztah ke kreativitě.
Citace ani odborné zdroje tady nenajdete. Knihu by tak bylo možné popsat jako psychoterapeutický deník, kterým si Pressfield ospravedlňuje svůj přístup k životu – otázkou ovšem zůstává, proč byl někdo ochotný jej vydat.

Sebestředným směřování v područí múzy autor ukájí svoji představu o výjimečnosti - je přece médiem, do kterého Bůh vkládá své nápady a on, jako kreativec, je volně zprostředkuje do hmatatelného světa. Pressfield se tak zřejmě našel v romantické ideji Parnasismu. Jeho úkolem je stimulovat sebe, jako médium, aby uvolnil cesty kreativity a nebral ohled na svět kolem sebe – rodinu, vztahy, společnost – protože tyto oblasti života pouze zdržují od „skutečné práce“.

Pokud fandíte libertariánům a myslíte si, že celý život a svět je pouze a jenom ve vašich rukou, tak se vám bude kniha zamlouvat. Bude se vám líbit i v případě, kdy dokážete uvěřit tomu, že lze vyléčit rakovinu tím, že člověk začne dělat „To, co jej opravdu baví.“

Kdyby tento text byl kritikou nebo recenzí, měl bych se pokusit najít alespoň nějaké světlé stránky. Na první pohled oceňuji grafické zpracování knihy – jednoduchá grafika představuje cestu k úspěchu, která ale nikdy nekončí. V obsahu by ale člověk musel hledat lupou, aby narazil na něco víc než "Nekecej a makej". Kromě ezoterických, spirituálních a pseudo-psychologických aspektů má kniha řadu dalších chyb, například argumentační nekonzistentnost.

Pokud uvažujete, za co utratíte necelé 3 stovky, jděte raději do láhve vína a tupého koukání na zamrzlé Brno – využijete tak čas řádově lépe.

FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! This is a must-read by any one interested in doing ANYTHING other than the average with their life. He focuses a lot on writing, but it clearly applies to anything you are called to do in your life, but seem unable to get yourself to do it.

I have been working on-and-off on my 1st book for 5 years. I have had so much resistance to sitting down and writing, even though I love writing my blog pieces. Within pages, Pressfield clearly spell out the trouble, and just by recognizing it I was able to sit down and write EVERY DAY WITH ENTHUSIASM. He begins by talking about Resistance, what it is, it's many forms, and why it functions in our lives. Sometimes recognizing the problem is all you need to do to move beyond it. He continues with what it means to be a Professional (akin to a Warrior) and how to combat Resistance.
It's as if my entire relationship with writing has been flipped on its head. I knew many of these things peripherally, I suppose, but I needed to see them in words in front of my face to make the difference.

It's a fun read, and approachable by people of all beliefs and walks of life.

One of those books that is helpful for anyone who sometimes struggles with the creative process. I think what I liked the most about this book was it's emphasis on demystifying what it really means to create and in pointing out the dangers that come from the self-importance we sometimes assign to ourselves as creators. The professional (as opposed to the amateur) knows how vital to her life it is to be able to create but there is a humility and a modesty that accompanies this knowledge. It really is more about quietly going about creating, doing your life-appointed work with integrity, in accordance with your heart, rather than talking about it or worrying about it. There's a spiritual dimension to this book that gave it a depth missing in many motivational books. The spiritual dimension is the recognition of the existence of "Muses." Muses is the name the author gives to the mysterious force we sometimes encounter in the process of creating - a sense that words or images or energy, are being given to us, a sense that we are serving a larger purpose through our work and that purpose is fulfilled whether our work brings us recognition from others or not.

Well, Resistance didn't want me to write this review. Why? because it is an endeavor by which I understand the gift of writing embedded in me. It tells me "you don't want to write something embarrassing! Everybody is watching, You have to choose your words carefully! Do you really have the time? may be not NOW." She knows that with whatever I can market to others revealing its ugly truth, and that is what it fears the most! But guess what, I am also starting my war against resistance, and so should you.

Even though Steven Pressfield presented us a short book, It really is a wondrous realm. He outlines the reason why most people are, not really engaged in what they love; and it is, to put it bluntly, a negative force from within, he calls " The Resistance".

Steven talks in this book about; how to identify the resistance, its characteristics, its symptoms, how it successfully affects humans, and How, Why and When we try to counter it. He speaks of its origin and location in the whole equation of any artist's life. You may not agree with everything he believes [I don't], but it really hits many aspects of our lives. VERY ENJOYABLE, and hopefully very useful as well.

"Resistance is a repelling force, It is negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our Work." - he says. So get your bearings my fellow artists, and start your wars! to live your the unlived life scripted in your genes.

Well, that was entertaining. I like Steven Pressfield’s writing style in this book. It is a bit repetitive, and he does at times go somewhat overboard with claims about certain things, but reading the book is like listening to someone that has a lot of passion for the arts tell you how, and why you should get into the arts. I couldn’t help being swept along with the author, and enjoy the ride.

I probably wouldn’t put it at the top of a list of the most helpful books for people that want to get into arts because in a sense there isn’t that much in it. There really is just one main idea which he talks about throughout the book. If you feel you have passion for artistic creation, then do it. Do the work despite all the resistance you’ll inevitably have to face. And that is good advice, but perhaps not a whole book worth of advice. But like I’ve already said, I enjoyed the read. I like the passion he brings to the table. It’s a good book.