Matt W Cook

I just finished reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  It’s been getting nothing but amazing reviews on Amazon and by people in the online artsy community.  And it was written by the same guy who wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance.  How could I go wrong?

I don’t think I did go wrong.

The book is little.  Google books gives you a 100 page preview and two out of the three sections of the whole thing.  And the last section wasn’t nearly as good as the first two.

Pressfield sets out to help us break through creative barriers and achieve whatever it is that we’ve always wanted to achieve.  He does this first by outlining and defining the thing that is stopping us from doing it.  He calls it Resistance.  Resistance is that suicidal, anti-God force that tries to prevent us from doing anything good.  Then, he shows how to be the kind of person that fights against Resistance and does what needs to be done.  In the last section of the book he tries to put a vague, spiritual spin on it.

All in all, the book was great.  It’s quite small.  Many of the chapters only have a few sentences.  But it’s insightful and profound.  I wouldn’t give it the massively high remarks that the Internet folk are, but it’s definately recommened.  Especially for those of you who want to create but feel that horrible pull of dread when you actually try to sit down and do it.

Will this book help you overcome your creative blocks?  Yes, definitely.  I find I’m helped by a lot of it.  It’s not all good, but what’s good is very good.

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