by Steven Pressfield
Pressfield names the invisible force that stops us from doing creative work: Resistance. It's self-generated, universal, and relentless - and the only way to defeat it is to show up like a professional, every single day.
In this collection, The War of Art is cited by 8 other books.
It’s picked up by Ego Is the Enemy, Stillness Is the Key and Steal Like an Artist and 5 others.
Scroll down to read the exact passages where other authors reference this book and what they say about it.
The War of Art is one of the most recommended books on creative discipline, beloved for naming the invisible force -- Resistance -- that stops people from doing their work. Ryan Holiday references the concept in both Ego Is the Enemy and Stillness Is the Key, Seth Godin built The Practice as a direct extension and had Pressfield write the back-cover endorsement, and Rick Rubin credits it as a formative influence on The Creative Act. Elizabeth Gilbert engages with Pressfield's framework in Big Magic but reframes the response, arguing for welcoming fear as a companion rather than fighting a war against it.
Austin Kleon recommends it in Steal Like an Artist for its insistence on creative discipline. Readers value its short, punchy format and its ability to make procrastination feel like a recognizable enemy rather than a personal flaw, though some find its spiritual third section on muses and angels jarring after the pragmatic earlier chapters. It is the book creatives hand to other creatives when they are stuck.
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The exact passages where other authors bring up “The War of Art” and what they take from it.
Holiday references Pressfield's Resistance concept from The War of Art.
Holiday references Pressfield's War of Art on internal battles.
Kleon references Pressfield's War of Art on creative discipline.
Explicitly builds on Pressfield's War of Art concept of Resistance; Pressfield wrote the back-cover endorsement calling The Practice a user's manual for finding your calling
Openly borrows Pressfield's War of Art concept of Resistance and the lizard brain, citing Pressfield by name as the source of the framework Godin uses throughout
Rubin's treatment of Resistance, self-doubt, and the need to show up regardless of inspiration sits in direct conversation with Pressfield's War of Art, which Rubin has publicly credited
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