Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
21 used & new from CDN$ 4.68

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
 
See larger image
 

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Paperback)

by Steven Pressfield (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 18.95
Price: CDN$ 13.83 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
You Save: CDN$ 5.12 (27%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Ordering for Christmas? To ensure delivery by December 24 to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal, choose Express at checkout. Read more about holiday shipping.

17 new from CDN$ 4.68 4 used from CDN$ 10.68

Frequently Bought Together

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles + The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life + Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
Total List Price: CDN$ 51.95
Price For All Three: CDN$ 37.93

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details

  • The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details

  • Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

by Twyla Tharp
4.8 out of 5 stars (16)  CDN$ 12.78
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

by David Bayles
4.3 out of 5 stars (28)  CDN$ 11.32
Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second

Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second

Flickering Pix

Flickering Pix

by Shane Hipps
4.0 out of 5 stars (2)  CDN$ 16.78
VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography

VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography

by David duChemin
CDN$ 34.01
Explore similar items

Product Details


Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Novelist Steven Pressfield (The Legend of Bagger Vance; Gates of Fire) goes self-help in The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle. Dubbing itself a cross between Sun-Tzu's The Art of War and Julie Cameron's The Artist's Way, Pressfield's book aims to help readers "overcome Resistance" so that they may achieve "the unlived life within." Whether one wishes to embark on a diet, a program of spiritual advancement or an entrepreneurial venture, it's most often resistance that blocks the way. To kick resistance, Pressfield stresses loving what one does, having patience and acting in the face of fear. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal

Drawing on his many years' experience as a writer, Pressfield (The Legend of Bagger Vance) presents his first nonfiction work, which aims to inspire other writers, artists, musicians, or anyone else attempting to channel his or her creative energies. The focus is on combating resistance and living the destiny that Pressfield believes is gifted to each person by an all-powerful deity. While certainly of great value to frustrated writers struggling with writer's block, Pressfield's highly personal philosophy, soundly rooted in his own significant life challenges, has merit for anyone frustrated in fulfilling his or her life purpose. Successful photographer Ulrich (photography chair, Art Inst. of Boston; coeditor, The Visualization Manual) explores the creative impulse and presents an approach to developing creativity that, like Pressfield's, will be relevant to artists and others. He identifies and explains seven distinct stages of the creative process: discovery and encounter, passion and commitment, crisis and creative frustration, retreat and withdrawal, epiphany and insight, discipline and completion, and responsibility and release. He also develops his view of the three principles of the creative impulse, which include creative courage, being in the right place at the right time, and deepening connections with others. Rooted in Eastern philosophy, Ulrich's fully developed treatise nicely updates the solid works of Brewster Ghiselin (The Creative Process), Rollo May (The Courage To Create), and Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way). It also supplements Pressfield's inspirational thoughts on overcoming resistance through introspective questions and practical exercises that further elaborate the creative process. Both books are recommended for public libraries needing additional works on creativity. Dale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
81% buy the item featured on this page:
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles 4.6 out of 5 stars (42)
CDN$ 13.83
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
8% buy
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life 4.8 out of 5 stars (16)
CDN$ 12.78
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
5% buy
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking 4.3 out of 5 stars (28)
CDN$ 11.32
Fearless Creating
4% buy
Fearless Creating 4.2 out of 5 stars (12)
CDN$ 14.60

 

Customer Reviews

42 Reviews
5 star:
 (35)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

 
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't live up to expectations, Jul 15 2004
By A Customer
After reading several glowing reviews of this book, I was eager to read it for myself in an effort to unlock my own creativity. I did enjoy the first part (dealing with Resistance) because it did a good job of describing just exactly what kinds of forces creative people are up against and how those forces manifest themselves. If the rest of the book had been that good I would have given it 4 or 5 stars. However, I thought things really went downhill from there. Pressfield could easily have squeezed all the important and useful information in this book into absolutely no more than 50 pages. And I don't mean simply compressing all the text as opposed to using the "Life's Little Instruction Book" format with often no more than a short paragraph on a page, leaving the rest of the page blank. I can understand why the book is formatted that way. What I mean is that much of the book, and especially the information after part I, struck me as being so esoteric and repetitious that it was of little use and added nothing to the book. For instance, the point that an artist should simply stop procrastinating and get to work instead of waiting for inspiration to strike is a valid one, and I think Pressfield is correct that something kind of magical happens after the process starts. However, going on and on and on about this subject for several pages was unnecessary and monotonous. Pressfield also comments several times on his disdain for "self help" programs or "workshops," yet in the end this book struck me as being precisely that. I'm not a fan of the self help craze, so I felt uncomfortable with much of this book. Overall I am still glad I read this book, if for no other reason than to glean the helpful information in part I. However, I give it just 3 stars for these reasons and because the publisher has no business putting a $12 price tag on a book this short. If you have a chance to buy this book at a used book store or borrow it from someone, it's worth your time (and it won't take much time - I finished it in one day). Otherwise you're better off saving your money.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration from a new perspective, May 22 2002
By "twalker81" (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews
I picked up a copy of The War of Art after spying it on the shelf and bought it out of admiration for the author's previous works and out of curiosity about his angle on this subject.

The War of Art seems akin to the likes of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. This is very good company to be in, in my opinion.

The War of Art is a quick read and, for me, held some measure of inspiration on every page. The book's central theme is a look at the artist's (writer, painter, anyone's inner creative self) constant battle with the evil of what Pressfield personifies as Resistance. I found this particular perspective on a very familiar problem (packaged and addressed in other ways in the works I mentioned above) to be one that I could identify with and while in the course of reading it I found myself making adjustments to my thinking about my work. That's what we all hope for from books, I think, and only a few deliver on that.

Pressfield designs an entertaining reading experience with this book, too. A great for instance is his use of a line from John Wayne in the classic western film The Searchers. I knew I'd met a kindred spirit.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars I Really Needed That. Trust me., Nov 2 2009
By Claude Jollet (Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I saw my Self staring back at me with a big fat pregnant grin on its face. It knew it had me. I was pinned down. I could not stop reading until I was at the end.

I got slapped in the face. Hard. It did not hurt one bit. I am relieved to have found out, finally, that I knew the answers all along. I am even more relieved now because I now know precisely who was holding me back!

I have found in Steven Pressfield someone else in this world who, like me, knows for a fact that our hand is guided if we extend it, our mind is seeded if we open it, our purpose in this life is accomplished if we give it everything we've got.

I was almost there, as always.

56 Million Behind and Rising: What I Learned On My Way Up As Web Entrepreneur

"The War of Art" has given me the missing link to my Self.

I am now ready, willing and able to do what it takes. Thanks Steven.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars How to turn 10% inspiration into 90%
Creativity is innate, but productivity is not. The book is composed of short chapters that may be read one at a time, as meditations that slowly penetrate like a drop of oil into... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Eric S. Grossman

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book for getting you to get yourself in your studio
As a full time artist and past art professor, I recommend this book more than any other. My students agree that it is the BEST book to get us into our studios when we are in a... Read more
Published on April 24 2004 by Wewer Keohane

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Concise
The beauty of this book is that it can be applied to a variety of endeavors in life. It is meant to be read many times for reflection and inspiration. Read more
Published on Nov 5 2003 by Stacy E. Burrell

5.0 out of 5 stars Overcome resistance to living the life you love
If you have a passion in your life -- writing, painting, music, sculpting, dancing, acting -- and if this passion is the reason you believe you're alive, then check out this book... Read more
Published on Nov 5 2003 by M. Pettit

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Only for Artists
Without rehashing what this book is about, I want to tell you what it does: It pushes you to move beyond your current way of thinking about your creativity and removes the... Read more
Published on Sep 2 2003 by Sylvester J. Gorman

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Love for Artists
This book is tough love for creative professionals. Outlining many of the obstacles facing any artist, THE WAR OF ART confirms much of what I've experienced and observed in my own... Read more
Published on Aug 31 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Beating Blocks and Procrastination
I teach entrepreneurship to both artists and non-artists at a Boston nonprofit. We encourage all of our students to read The War of Art, and everyone who has read it says it has... Read more
Published on Aug 30 2003 by Hillary Rettig

1.0 out of 5 stars Ouch!
Sorry, I did not get a thing out of this book, except that the author has struggled a lot and has a fairly negative attitude. He also believes in muses. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Will knock writer's block to pieces & get you back to work
Are you creative, yet are facing writer's block? Read this book and it'll shake your block loose and help set you free! Read more
Published on Aug 10 2003 by Mary C

4.0 out of 5 stars A smartly written work worthy of keeping close at hand
It's the main title that grabs your attention, pulls you in, if you will. THE WAR OF ART...clever... Read more
Published on Aug 8 2003 by Bookreporter.com

Only search this product's reviews



Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.