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Josh Waitzkin: The art of learning (2007, Free Press) 4 stars

Review of 'The art of learning' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

An autobiography of a child chess prodigy, marketed as a performance psychology book.

The book contains:
- In-depth breakdowns of personal chess strategy.
- In-depth breakdowns of personal martial arts strategy (Tai Chi push hands).

The book does not contain:
- Broadly applicable learning strategies.
- Any iota of humility or self-awareness.

The book’s tone is one of the most unpleasant I’ve come across. If you can tolerate the narcissism and are interested in the author or one of his two subjects, it might be for you. The audacity to title your autobiography “The Art of Learning” and not make any significant effort to distill your methods for readers—claiming at the end that you hope they were just inspired by your life—is ridiculous.