"The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence" is the story of Josh Waitzkin's method to success. It is about learning from real conflict rather than textbooks. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at age nine, Josh was the subject of the book and film, Searching for Bobby Fischer. After dominating the world of scholastic chess for ten years, Josh studied the martial art Tai Chi Chuan and ultimately earned the title of World Champion. How was he able to reach the pinnacle of two different disciplines? “I've come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess,” he says. “What I am best at is the art of learning.” Through his own example, Josh explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you.
Since the age of twenty, he has developed and been the spokesperson for Chessmaster, the largest computer chess program in the world. Now a martial arts champion, Waitzkin holds a combined 21 National Championship titles in addition to several World Championship titles. He is currently a motivational speaker a lectures nationwide on the subject of performance psychology and achieving success.