Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsLearn the art of excellence from one of the best
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2011
Josh Waitzkin is an over achiever. He began competing in chess tournaments around the age of eight and was consistently the highest rated player for his age group until he stopped competing in his late `teens for personal reasons. Starting in 1998, he mastered Tai Chi, winning a pair of world championship titles a few years later. He now runs the JW Foundation, a nonprofit helping students direct their own learning in a way that meshes with who they are as people.
The Art of Learning is as multifaceted as its author: a compelling autobiography, a discussion of the theory and practice of both chess and Tai Chi, an exposition on general and performance psychology, and a primer on philosophy. I have distilled the most pertinent lessons for the UnCollege community:
Everything is Interconnected
The deepest message conveyed in the book is that many seemingly disparate pursuits are actually connected in subtle ways. A perceptive person can learn much about martial arts from chess, such as, and vice versa. In a earlier post, I sought to break down the barrier between "common sense" and "book smarts", and that sentiment is echoed here in a slightly revised form. Josh writes:
"From the outside Tai Chi and chess couldn't be more different, but they began to converge in my mind. I started to translate my chess ideas into Tai Chi language, as if the two arts were linked by an essential connecting ground. Every day I noticed more and more similarities, until I began to feel as if I were studying chess when I was studying Tai Chi" (xvi)."
The first step is to learn to think of our various pursuits not as disconnected islands, but rather as part of a whole, each part informing the others. As you go about your day, actively look for ways to learn x from y.
Master the Fundamentals
Although this is hardly an earth-shattering idea, Josh manages to give it unique expression, illustrating the urgency of practicing the basics with examples from his own life. He credits his successes in the early parts of his martial arts career not to having a broad mastery of many tactics, but with having a deep mastery of just a few. The mechanics behind one a single technique are often the same ones that lie behind the entire system. A big part of this mastery consists in gradually internalizing the fundamental principles until they are unconscious and reflexive. This concept is referred to in the book alternatively as numbers to leave numbers and form to leave form, and it applies to every pursuit.
Josh compares modern people to fish swimming at the surface, so caught up with the ripples and currents there that they miss the beauty of the abyss below. While there is much truth to this, there is still something to be said for generalization, omnivorous consumption of skills, and polymathy. We should combine both approaches: depth and breadth. Sometimes all we want, need, or have time to obtain is a broad perspective on a field or discipline. That's okay, because every bit is going to stretch our minds and enrich our perspectives. However, if all we ever do is skim the surface, then we're missing out on the value of plunging deeply and intimately into an art. Likewise, cultivating long-term tunnel vision on a single domain of knowledge will mean losing opportunities to see connections between disparate activities and the myriad ways in which one practice informs another.
Invest in Failure
One of the more difficult parts of the learning process is bouncing back from the inevitable setbacks and failures. Those of us with a self-image to protect may find shelving our egos and giving ourselves permission to lose particularly trying. By staying focused on the goal - improving as people, not proving how great we already are - we can continue learning. Confidence and pride in our accomplishments have their place, but should never get in the way of personal development.
Learn to Love the Journey
As important as gaining mastery of a skill is, cultivating a love for the process of learning is just as important. If we make the reasonable assumption that even masters still have aspects on which they can improve, it stands to reason that we all spend a lot more time as learners than we probably realize. This principle is so important, Josh places it squarely at the center of success in any field, saying that the path to the top lies "in a well-though-out approach that inspires resilience, the ability to make connections between diverse pursuits, and day-to-day enjoyment of the process." (30)
Learning with Style
An overarching theme of the book, and one of the main tenets espoused by Josh's nonprofit, is to make every aspect of our learning harmonious with and an extension of our personality. Great performers of all stripes know who they are and how to synchronize their activities with their mindsets. In chess, Josh writes, mistakes on the board often expose psychological weaknesses. The reverse is also true; knowing how a person acts under stress or pressure can tell you a lot about how they will play chess. As he began competing at a higher and higher level, Josh kept notes on how he felt during tournaments, specifically when he made moves that turned out later to be watersheds. This practice, continued later with his Tai Chi training, allowed him to grow more and more attuned with himself as a performer. He was able to quickly spot lapses in concentration and repair them, thus strengthening his technique from the inside out. I have kept a journal for years for this reason, and recommend that you all do the same. As you learn more about yourself through writing or introspection, try to find ways to make your pursuits an expression of yourself. The way you play chess, cook a meal, or write a book review should reflect a deepening awareness of your strengths and dispositions.
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