The War of Art

Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

This week’s book summary is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Pressfield does a stellar job of defining what “Resistance” is and how it prevents each of us from reaching our full potential. He has written this book in such a simple, yet profound prose, that anyone can read and understand it – and everyone will be motivated by it! Although the book does have a lot of metaphors and analogies that not everyone will agree with, I still think it is one of the most powerfully motivating books I have read!

My takeaway from this book is that each of us has unique gifts for the “sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter further along its path.” As Pressfield says; “Our creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

 

Note that I have previously reviewed the following books in 2018:

Men Without Work

America's Invisible Crisis

This week’s book review is Men Without Work by Nicholas Eberstadt

Eberstadt defines a problem in the US that has so far remained invisible to the public: There are literally tens of millions of able-bodied American men who have left the US workforce and are not even trying to participate.

He goes into great detail with charts, research reports, and statistics to try and frame the problem and understand why it is happening. Although he has some ideas on how to solve the problem, the book does not try to create a solution but rather focuses on framing the problem.

Take a look at the chart below to see the worrisome decline in the workforce participation!