The Art of Learning

This book shined in the last part. If you like chess and Tai Chi or in general you want to know the story of Josh Waitzkin then this book is for you. A lot of anecdotes are repeated across the book which made it tedious to go through. There are some nuggets of wisdom but they take very little room compared to all the stories and examples that make up 90% of the book.

The writing didn't excel either and it didn't flow as well as others in the same genre. The study of numbers to leave numbers was one of the most interesting ideas, it's something most of us have experienced but did not realize. Some fundamental elements of a discipline become so ingrained in our brains that we can do them without thinking. Through repetition and deep practice of these, they become second nature and something you don't need to focus on as much. In my field an example would be the Latency Numbers Every Programmer Should Know, this can and should become something you can recall instantly for your napkin math (to be fair I'm still working on it =) ).

The importance of recovery is also highlighted several times but what was more interesting is the idea of being able to internalize a routine that puts you in the right state of mind. This must be based on your taste, from a 15-minute meditation session to a 10-minute listen to your favorite music. Associating this before doing something you truly love (in the book they make the example of throwing a ball with your son) is key. As you do this regularly you can refine the routine and make it shorter which in turn makes it easier to practice again before important moments in your career/life (e.g. an important meeting or a big presentation).

Summarized the 2 key principles from the book:

• In Making Smaller Circles we take a single technique or idea and practice it until we feel its essence.
• In Slowing Down Time, we again focus on a select group of techniques and internalize them until the mind perceives them in tremendous detail.
• In The Illusion of the Mystical, we use our cultivation of the last two principles to control the intention of the opponent—and again, we do this by zooming in on very small details to which others are completely oblivious.

Conclusion

This was a read that I was expecting to come through at any moment until I realized I was almost at the very end of the book. Long-winded stories made me roll my eyes as some of them felt self-celebratory and not adding anything to the idea the author was trying to get across. I believe that if you're a fan of chess or maybe followed Josh's journey it is curious to learn how he transferred his techniques to Tai Chi to also become one of the best. He pretty much is living proof that it's more about mastering a learning process that works for you and being able to use it anywhere in life. This book is part of the study in trying to find what works for me but took way too long to get to the point.