The Art of Learning

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin is a profoundly original meditation on the nature of mastery, performance, and the learning process. Waitzkin is uniquely qualified to write this book: he was a child chess prodigy who inspired the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, and later became a multiple-time Tai Chi Push Hands world champion. He mines his experiences in both disciplines to reveal the psychological and technical principles behind exceptional performance. Key concepts include embracing mistakes as learning opportunities, the value of incremental growth over talent, the importance of presence and recovery under pressure, and the mastery of the ‘soft zone’ the mental state of relaxed focus that enables peak performance. A must-read for athletes, performers, and students.