The Art Of Learning A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence by Josh Waitzkin

There isn't an annotated game in this book but it is still highly relevant as a chess book. This book is as much and maybe more about the martial arts than it is about chess but that is okay with me as this is another lifelong interest of mine. I found it entertaining and thoughtful and thought provoking.

Waitzkin never really lived up to his promise in the chess arena though he is still relatively young and could come back to become a grandmaster. He did reach the pinnacle of an International Master title which doesn't seem to have been his full potential. He was a master at a younger age than Fischer but all the attention and adulation as a result of the book and movie "Searching For Bobby Fischer" probably interrupted his forward progress. From this book it is apparent that he accomplished a great deal more in the world of competitive martial arts and specifically in the push hands arena than he did in chess.

The premise of this book is a kind of unified field theory of learning based on a synthesis of Josh's chess and martial arts experiences. I really enjoyed this book. Waitzkin seems to be very much a mystic which coloured some of his interpretations of his experiences.

He describes what he interprets as mystical experiences of flow in chess and martial arts where time has seemed to slow down. I have had similar experiences myself during chess games, in the karate dojo and during violent confrontations so this was particularly interesting to me. I am not sure that I agree with all of his interpretations of these types of events but nevertheless it is quite interesting to see someone else describe these events with a somewhat different perspective.

Waitzkin gets into sports psychology where he uses the analogy of a trigger to bring yourself quickly into peak states. He would have benefitted from a study of Tony Robbins ideas or Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) where Robbins began which offer quicker solutions to arrive at that peak state instantly.

I am not sure that I fully subscribe to all of his thoughts in this area but again it is interesting to read a slightly different perspective and I certainly picked up a number of ideas which I can use.

Dvoretsky and more specifically, one of Josh's Dvoretsky trained mentors, comes in for a bit of criticism for trying to mold and change Waitzkin's chess style towards the example of Karpov and Petrosian. Waitzkin favoured chaos and wild complications so Kasparov is suggested as a better model by his other trainer Razuvaev who is treated more favourably as a chess Yoda.

Waitzkin seems to prefer Dvoretsky as an author rather than a personal trainer. He has very good things to say about his books.

Interesting also is his theories on tells which have applications in the world of sports and gambling. He described a match against a highly tuned martial arts master who he defeated by thinking about certain techniques while executing other techniques. The master responded to the techniques that Josh was thinking about and was fooled when Josh did not follow up as expected. Of course the master made adjustments which made the match closer but ultimately Josh eked out a win.

There is a lot here that I haven't fully digested (yet) but I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in chess or the martial arts (or both). Read some Anthony (Tony) Robbins or NLP if you want to find a better discussion of techniques for reaching a peak state.

Highly recommended.