The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance Paperback – May 27, 2008

Josh Waitzkin, the inspiration for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, is no stranger to creating change in his life. Through various life events ranging from when he won his first National Chess Championship at age 8 to becoming the Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands Middleweight U.S. Champion, he has learned not only how to maintain balance in his life, but also how to realize what needs to change in order to be successful. In his autobiography The Art of Learning, Waitzkin discusses some of his life lessons that he learned from mentors in the two opposite environments of competitive chess and Tai Chi – lessons that can be applied in a multitude of areas, including life in general and, specifically, educational settings. By keeping what Waitzkin discusses in mind, teachers and educators can facilitate change and improvement in their classrooms, in their own lives, and in their students’ lives and learning.The Art of Learning is divided into three sections in which Waitzkin describes his learning, meaning that there are three areas of discussion from which educators can draw inspiration for facilitating change in a classroom. First, in “The Foundation,” Waitzkin describes his rise to fame in the competitive chess scene, delving into his experiences and interactions with chess Grandmasters Bruce Pandolfini, Mark Dvoretsky, and Yuri Razuvaev, as well as the lessons he learned from working with each of them. In the second section, “My Second Art,” Waitzkin moves away from chess and talks about his work and participation in Tai Chi, and how he progressed from a student to a master of the Push Hands discipline of the martial art. In the final section, titled “Bringing It All Together,” Waitzkin goes into more detail about the similarities of preparation and execution between chess and Tai Chi, and how he applies what he learned in one to the other. I found that, while reading each of these sections, each chapter within a section had its own theme and lesson, most of which I feel can be included in a classroom setting.In the book’s introduction, Waitzkin establishes his overarching theme of “I am best at the art of learning” by opening with descriptions of his attendance at the Tai Chi Push Hands championship in 2004. He reminisces on his life at the time that Searching for Bobby Fischer was in theaters, saying that he could not walk down the street without people asking him to “autograph their stomachs or legs.” He then says that this newfound fame was not truly helping him achieve happiness, nor was it aiding him in his “search for excellence.” After this experience, Waitzkin enrolled in Tai Chi classes under Grandmaster William C. C. Chen, whose classes encouraged meditation, reflection, and realizing that “the mind needed little physical action to have great physical effect.” Once he used what he learned in Tai Chi to make connections to his chess career, his life “became flooded with intense learning experiences,” ranging from watching water crash onto a shore to using basketball to work on Tai Chi mechanics. Ultimately, Waitzkin began to think about how he transferred his knowledge of chess to Tai Chi, and how this question became the central focus of his life. Waitzkin concludes with his primary theme of this book, which is that he is “best at the art of learning.” As soon as I read the introduction, I immediately began to think about what he could possibly mean by the art of learning. How is learning an art? Can someone “get better” at learning? How can I (or other educators) use what Waitzkin says to incorporate change and improvement with students? In the three sections I described earlier, Waitzkin goes into more detail and provides different techniques and suggestions that support both his main idea and facilitating change in classrooms.One idea that I found particularly helpful and applicable to a classroom setting is one that Waitzkin talks about in the first chapter. In this chapter, Waitzkin meets Bruce Pandolfini, a chess Grandmaster that eventually becomes his mentor and teacher. Waitzkin says that one of the most important aspects about Pandolfini was his educational philosophy, which focused on discussion rather than lecture. Whenever Waitzkin would make a mistake, Pandolfini would ask him his thought process and how he reached that conclusion. Actually, Pandolfini would ask Waitzkin his thought process on nearly every facet of his chess game, encouraging him to think about his own actions as well as finding different paths to reach the same conclusion. By doing so, Waitzkin was able to develop a deeper love and understanding of chess. Pandolfini’s philosophy aligns with my own values in regards to teaching. I am a firm believer in discussion and collaboration when working with students, and Pandolfini took this approach when working with Waitzkin. In my own educational experience, a majority of my classes were heavily lecture based, where discussion was not necessarily discouraged, but was not as prominent as I would have liked. In an educational setting, focusing on collaboration and discussion (as Waitzkin and Pandolfini did) will hopefully encourage students to want to learn and help them develop a deeper understanding of their subject area.An additional point of interest for me (which Waitzkin called investment in loss) was in the second section of the book during Waitzkin’s Tai Chi classes. In simplest terms, Waitzkin describes investment in loss as “giving yourself to the learning process.” In other words, learning comes by resisting old habits and accepting new ones, as well as not being afraid to make mistakes. In Waitzkin’s case, he began to focus exclusively on training, and was eventually was able to exploit other beginners’ habits in his classes. Because he ignored old behaviors, he was able to rapidly progress – he did not let his ego affect his learning. From an educational standpoint, this mentality is perfect for facilitating change in student attitudes. At the beginning of a school year, a teacher establishes an environment that will be set for the class. Depending on what the teacher says and how he or she presents it, students may not feel comfortable learning new methods for solving problems, may be afraid of making a mistake for fear of embarrassment from their peers, or be inclined to let their egos affect their learning. If a teacher exemplifies the mentality of investment in loss at the beginning of the year, the students will hopefully model this behavior, as well. To do so, the teacher can explain that making mistakes is acceptable (in fact, making mistakes is how we learn!), as well as being open to ideas that students have in order to show that new ideas help the learning process. By demonstrating investment in loss, students will hopefully make rapid progress as Waitzkin did with Tai Chi.A final takeaway I found in this book is when Waitzkin mentions “building your trigger” in the third section of the book. In this chapter, the primary focus is… well… focus! Waitzkin talks about focus in terms of important competitions, and “keeping cool” under pressure. He says that when thinking about high-stakes, high-stress times, it is important to avoid giving attention to the moment that “decides your destiny.” If this occurs, then stress, tension, and over-excitement are bound to be present, which will undoubtedly affect performance. To counter these feelings, Waitzkin suggests keeping healthy patterns in day-to-day life so that, when the time comes, everything feels natural. While Waitzkin is talking about Tai Chi in this particular passage, this outlook on focus and attention can also be applied in an educational setting. When I read this passage, I thought of students taking a test. Most likely, students will be nervous or tense about a test for a variety of reasons, meaning the nervousness can take over and affect their performance. If teachers and educators take Waitzkin’s approach, they can begin helping students by incorporating methods in their classrooms that make test taking feel “normal.” For instance, a teacher for an AP Calculus class can create tests with questions based on those found on actual AP tests. In doing so, when the AP test rolls around, the students will already feel like the questions are “normal” because they have grown accustomed to them in class. As a result, students will not be distracted by nerves and will be able to focus on the task at hand, which parallels what Waitzkin says about Tai Chi.As I read The Art of Learning, I thoroughly enjoyed how the book was written as a whole. By this, I mean that I could sit down, open up to any chapter I wanted, and discover a brand new theme different from any other chapter. Even though each of the three sections of the book were devoted to either chess, Tai Chi, or both combined (respectively), I felt that I did not need to read each chapter in the proper order to understand Waitzkin’s messages and lessons. It felt like a season of television’s Scrubs: I can jump into any episode of the season and not feel lost, but I can pick up on the story halfway through. Each chapter was relatively short, but had some themes that made me question both how I live my own life and how I will teach in the future. I also enjoyed the fact that Waitzkin has a desire for learning and improving anything he tries. In an educational setting, this is a perfect attitude to have – everyone is allowed to make mistakes (except on a test!), everyone is encouraged to explore and learn through discovery, and assessments help both teachers and students improve their educational experience.Even though this book was not written by an educator, per say, The Art of Learning has an incredible amount of inspiring material that can be applied to an educational setting. Waitzkin says in his Afterword, “mastery involves discovering the most resonant information and integrating it so deeply and fully it disappears and allows us to fly free.” By taking what Josh Waitzkin includes in his book and incorporating his messages into a classroom, educators will not only encourage students to think about their thinking (as Waitzkin did in his interactions with Pandolfini), but also how to become better learners and students. This book is an incredible read, resource, and guide for facilitating change in a classroom and life.

Just finished this book after about 4 days. Josh is a great writer. His life story is amazing. This book really takes into account his life during chess and martial competitions. There are some great examples of his take on what it takes to learn but that seems a relatively small portion of this book. HIs stories will fill you with a sense of understanding the commitment it takes to get into the top of a field, but the actual mechanical processes are buried within long telling's of past experiences. Almost all examples are related into terms of chess or martial competition. While it was a good book, I felt like I was reading an autobiography about subjects I had never been interested in, waiting for him to provide more evidence or examples of what he was talking about. Great stories, good read, but I don't feel it covers the concept as deeply as I wished.

Although I have been a hardcore reader all my life, there are probably only 20 to 30 books that have fundamentally advanced my worldview and made a permanent impact on my thinking. This book is one of them.However, in the service of an honest and useful review, let me start by pointing out some of the things a potential reader might dislike:Much of the content of this book is essentially Josh Waitzkin ruminating on his many incredible accomplishments. To some people, this could appear boorish, tedious, and even egotistical. In addition, although the book is titled, 'The Art of Learning', the insights it provides into learning have all been drawn almost exclusively from Josh Waitzkin's experiences in playing chess on an international level, as well as his later participation in martial arts. As both a martial artist and chess player, I personally love both these fields and find them endlessly fascinating. But I can also easily see how some people might regard them as unrelatable, or even irrelevant, to the type of learning they desire. Okay, so there are the criticisms. Now, for the good stuff...Josh Waitzkin is a truly incredible individual, who has an equally incredible life story. He was the subject of the book and film, 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' and has won numerous world-champion titles for his brilliance at chess, and his mastery of Tai Chi Push Hands. (This second accomplishment is almost more noteworthy, I think, as he was already participating in kung fu competitions on an international level after just two years of study.) So, if he sounds a little braggadocious, he has every right because his real-world accomplishments are many and they are epic.In this book, Josh takes you inside his head, into the personal evolutionary processes that honed his world-class mastery of two very different fields. There is no unqualified 'fluff' here. The book is poignant, straight-forward, honest, and resonant. As a martial artist, for example, I could totally relate to Josh's discussion of how he developed his skills--namely by constantly 'investing in loss' (his term for practicing with those who were better, more knowledgeable, more aggressive, and more skilled than he was). This forced him to become ego-less, to learn how to manage and rebound from loss, and also ensured that his technique would evolve at an unconscious level. I say I can relate because when I first began practicing martial arts at a young age, I intuitively did the same thing: If given any choice at all, I would always choose to spar against the top student in my school, a blindingly-fast fighter who had a room full of tournament trophies at home. So, for nearly two years, I got my rear beaten badly multiple times a week. But, like Josh, I understood that as long as you can get past the bruises to your body and ego, playing/fighting against those who are so much better than you will force you to grow and evolve, while playing against your peers or those who are worse than you, will only cause you to become weaker and dangerously over-confident.That is is just a small taste of the wisdom Josh share's in this book, but there is so much more. Every person must eventually meet and deal with reversals and setbacks on their path through life. Who we become, and how we respond, in the face of those reversals is what shapes both our character and our destiny. What I think makes this book particularly amazing and useful, is that Josh not only provides uniquely brilliant insights into 'how to win', but more importantly, how to 'rightly lose', and how to turn losing into a springboard for personal growth and the highest levels of development.In order to truly do justice to this book in a review, I would probably have to write an almost equally long book to match it! So, all I can say to a potential reader is this: If you want truly useful insights into how to acquire excellence in life and practically any chosen field, and you want them from a bona fide master and genius who has probably given several lifetimes of thought to the fundamental principles and acquisition of excellence, then this book is one you absolutely must read.