[fbelzile]

Someone mentioned a book called War of Art [1] here on Hacker News which I went out to buy and read.

The author, Steven Pressfield, describes it as some metaphorical "Muse" (God of Art) that helps inspire your imagination when you set aside some time to do work.

I loved that line of thinking since work can't happen if you don't show up. It motivated me, as indie dev that works from home, to make a concerted effort to show up ready code. Doing it consistently (whether or not it's a long time) will eventually lead to new and improved versions of software.

"This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete."

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_Art

[p5a0u9l]

Steven Pressfield is an amazing writer. I think he's the one who wrote about the Spartans and how ridiculously tough they were. I encountered the book as a paperback left in a bin for soldiers to take and read during some dumb deployment. Not that one, but a small one to Poland. This was 2002.

[abhijat]

Yes I think it was called "Gates Of Fire". There is another book of his called "The Afghan Campaign" that I liked. It is about a greek soldier passing through Afghanistan for Alexander's campaign to reach India.

[b0rsuk]

Bret Deveraux is a PHD historian and a critic of Pressfield. He picks apart his argument for "universal warrior" and concludes it has an ideology behind it. The ideology is fascism.

https://acoup.blog/2021/02/19/collections-the-universal-warr...

edit: the earlier version of my post used the word "agenda" instead of "ideology", but that was a bit unfair given Bret himself gives Pressfield benefit of doubt.

This article specifically mentions Gates of Fire.

[ramblerman]

What a tiring rant.

For anyone that hasn’t read gates of fire I highly recommend it. It is historical fiction and a thrilling journey.

You can make up your own mind about supposed hidden agendas, or …just enjoy a great story.

[mud_dauber]

Seconded.

[bakuninsbart]

This reminds me a bit of the etymology of genius, which at first was something you had, a protective/tutoring spirit. Over time the meaning changed more to something someone is, like naturally intelligent and driven.[1] Stroke of genius is still one of those phrases using the old definition, and in the modest amount of situations were it happened to me, it did feel like something coming from outside of me.

[1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/genius

[AlwaysRock]

Plus one on this book. Even if you are not an artist it's a great read.