I visited Josh Waitzkin last night as he had the “Book Release Party” in Manhattan. His new book The Art of Learning just came out and he will be in Nashville this weekend to promote it. His guests last night included many chess celebrities such as A. Shabalov, J. Shahade, E. Vicary and B. Pandolfini, etc. You can check out his book at your local bookstores or of course on Amazon.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan, you’re an amazing woman. Is there anything you don’t promote? The USCF needs you! We all need you!
I read the book over the weekend and recommend it to all chess parents as well as anyone interested in the process of learning in general. I just recommended it to the other chess parents at my child’s school.
“I recommend Josh Waitzkin’s recently published book, The Art of Learning. Waitzkin, perhaps best known as the subject of the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, was an eight-time National Chess Champion during his childhood, attained the title of International Master, then left chess and eventually became a Martial Arts Champion. Drawing on his experiences as a former child chessplayer, he has a lot to say about the psychological and emotional side of chess as well as general thoughts about how to best teach chess (or any other activity for that matter). Of particular interest is his discussion of the research that appears to show the advantages from a psychological/educational perspective of praising children for their efforts rather than for results and/or for innate qualities such as “talent” or “intelligence.”
Susan herself is nice, but the string of sycophants congratulating her on her every move is tedious and kind of embarrassing. Couldn’t you, like, wait until the Saturday Open Forum, and then congratulate her on the whole week, rather than congratulating her for each story individually?
I think some people are just bubbling over with joy and happiness for Susan. Hard to contain all that positive attitude about Susan.
GO SUSAN GO.
Josh is the chessmaster creator, isnt he? Chessmaster was my first computer chess program. I use it a lot yet.
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Wow…I am truly looking forward to this book. My dissertation revolves around children’s beliefs about their abilities (as either innate or borne of effort/strategy), stereotype endorsement, and testing issues. I am also a chess player (obviously). I consistently see analogies to my improvement in chess and what Waitzkin seems to see as well in terms of where one believes this ability comes from (in my research I’m more interested in a student’s beliefs over what actually is)…I’m looking forward to taking in his take on this topic…it is a very meaningful topic.
Josh’s new book The Art of Learning is a must read for all educatots and people who take learning seriously. It is “to the point” in regards to the processes involved in what “real education” should be all about – passion for life and the adventure of self discovery.
Mark Tawin was quipped: “I never considered myself a slow learner. I always felt that teaching just came hard to most of my instructors.” Just what IS the relationship between teaching and learning? How can we all develop a healthier perspective about this important aspect of life?
Josh’s new book is an inspiration, and I want to whole-heartedly recommend it to all of you!
Dr. Rene Carlos Ochoa
Professor of Music
College of San Mateo
San Mateo, CA
Very interesting read. It’s about ches, martial art, and Josh. It could be made into an action movie directed by John Woo. “Search for Josh Waitzkin” could be the title!
> It could be made into an action
> movie directed by John
> Woo. “Search for Josh Waitzkin”
> could be the title!
That’s because “Beautiful Mind” is already taken 🙂
A truly wonderful book, it opened my eyes on what the human mind is capable of…
Yeah, I must say Susan, I do think you are really cool (as do thousands of other people, I know), I have fun chess stuff and classical music stuff on my blog, hope you give it a glance sometime if you are looking for something fun to glimpse over,
Christopher