Seedling reviewed The war of art by Steven Pressfield
Review of 'The war of art' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I know a lot of people really like this book, and will not agree with me, but - the tone of this book struck me as quite nasty. Resistance is portrayed as a powerful, evil enemy who seeks to destroy the artist (reminded me of the christian devil actually).
I felt a bit bullied as I was reading. For example, the concept of support is sneeringly dismissed as a waste of time - no "professional" artist needs support. The definition of "professional" was twisted to become someone who does the work without caring much about the results. To me, that is the antithesis of professional. True professionals aren't afraid of mistakes, they know they are necessary learning opportunities, but they also attach importance to the results of their work.
It was a very narrow, angry book. Not for me.
Update - Listened to it as an audiobook, which was somewhat …
I know a lot of people really like this book, and will not agree with me, but - the tone of this book struck me as quite nasty. Resistance is portrayed as a powerful, evil enemy who seeks to destroy the artist (reminded me of the christian devil actually).
I felt a bit bullied as I was reading. For example, the concept of support is sneeringly dismissed as a waste of time - no "professional" artist needs support. The definition of "professional" was twisted to become someone who does the work without caring much about the results. To me, that is the antithesis of professional. True professionals aren't afraid of mistakes, they know they are necessary learning opportunities, but they also attach importance to the results of their work.
It was a very narrow, angry book. Not for me.
Update - Listened to it as an audiobook, which was somewhat better.
