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  • The Art of Learning

  • An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
  • By: Josh Waitzkin
  • Narrated by: Josh Waitzkin
  • Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (468 ratings)

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The Art of Learning

By: Josh Waitzkin
Narrated by: Josh Waitzkin
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Publisher's Summary

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."

The Art of Learning takes listeners 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.

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 pause-resisting narrative.

©2007 Josh Waitzkin LLC (P)2014 Tim Ferriss

What listeners say about The Art of Learning

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Challenging.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The author needed to speak more clearly and slowly. Far too many technical words in the story.

Has The Art of Learning put you off other books in this genre?

Yes,

Any additional comments?

The title of this book is about the art of learning, however the first two hours was about this persons experience, nothing about learning for the purpose of another person gaining learning skills.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Enough about Tai Chi

There are a few nuggets of wisdom (which were good takeaways), but for a chess prodigy/ jiu jitsu blackbelt under Marcelo Garcia, I found it strange that the author chose to recount the events of obscure tai chi tournaments - A martial art with no real validity in modern fighting (seriously - search for "Tai Chi push hands" into YouTube and you'll find nothing but grainy tournament footage and unfit nerds performing demos in their backyards). I found these long-winded descriptions mind-numbingly boring and irritating to listen to (recommend breezing through these in 2x speed at the very least).

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Rocked my world

What an amazing book.
Recommend for anyone who is trying to learn about or is passionate about anything at all!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very good and deep book

Amazing description of a broken down thinking path, a different way of seeing, dealing and resolving our daily inevitable life challenges.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Deep book on reconstructing the learning process

Brilliantly read and written by a world class prefomer and athlete. Many take aways that can be used across many fields. I'm writing this after my 3rd reading.

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1 person found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Please read before buying

This book is so bad. It was so heavily hyped that I stuck with it, hoping it would get better but it didn’t.

So basically this book is 10% about how good Josh is at chess, 90% how good Josh is at Push hands. Anyone who’s read any David Goggins (Navy SEAL) knows that Goggins, as a high achiever brags quite a bit but has so many gems.

Not Josh. I take notes on everything I read, all bits that are actionable items. I got 3 notes from this book, 3 (!). Usually I’ll have 15-20.

Josh seems to not understand that Push Hands is not a real martial art, he takes an unbelievable amount of pride in getting great at a martial art that has absolutely no value in any sort of real combat situation, such as the UFC. I don’t know what his publisher was thinking by allowing him to waffle on so long but it makes for a rough listen.

This book is deceptively titled. It sounds like it would be a book full of useful information to help someone learn whatever they want, be that another language, law school, how to code and so on. It’s not. It’s just this minutely detailed autobiography of a guy who’s good at chess and tai chi.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Very motivational and well worth listening and taking in what is being said, not what you hear.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must listen

This book will shape your ability to understand and deconstruct not only the learning process and path to your individual excellence, but the path to a fulfilled life.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great until...

Josh's story resonated deeply. His narrative came from the heart. Unpretentious. Sincere. Illuminating. Then in the last sectiom of the book, Tim Ferris comes out of the blue and about 22min before the end you can hear him sigh, type away at the keyboard...so disrespectful. Zero tolerance for that blatant lack of awareness on Tim's part. Other than that, can't recommend this book enough.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great insight

an amazing look into peak performance, skill, time and spaces in learning. a must for practitioners

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