Person
Every book Steven Pressfield recommended on podcasts
Steven Pressfield's podcast appearances on programs such as The Joe Rogan Experience, Modern Wisdom, The Daily Stoic, and How I Write showcase a creator deeply engaged with the mechanics of creativity, the struggles of overcoming internal resistance, and the exploration of ancient wisdom. As an author, Pressfield frequently reflects on his own extensive bibliography, discussing how books like Gates of Fire allowed him to examine honor through historical fiction set in ancient Greece, and noting how his work on The Legend of Bagger Vance connects to themes of reincarnation and interconnected characters. He also references his earlier works, including Tides of War and The Virtues of War, to trace the origins of recurring characters, while mentioning that he is currently working on a new project bearing similarities to The War of Art. Beyond his own writing, Pressfield recommends foundational texts that explore the human psyche and esoteric traditions. He introduced Joe Rogan to The Kybalion by the Three Initiates to discuss hermetic philosophy and suggested Robert A. Johnson's Inner Work as a vital guide for interpreting dreams. Furthermore, he references classic storytelling tropes, such as Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, to illustrate how innocent characters in narratives often recognize and voice unvarnished truths. Through these discussions, Pressfield emerges as a mentor for artists and writers, grounding creative discipline in historical depth and psychological self-examination.
Books recommended by Steven Pressfield
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Gates of Fire
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield is a celebrated historical fiction novel that vividly brings to life the legendary Battle of Thermopylae and the ancient Spartan warriors.
Discussed“It's like for me writing Gates of Fire and setting a story in ancient Greece with the Spartans, the part of the reason I did that was so you could talk about honor with a straight face.”
Where to get it
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The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield is a mystical novel that reimagines classic philosophical themes through the framework of a golf game in the American South.
Discussed“And then I realized as as I'm working on this, I flash back to The Legend of Bagger Vance, the book, not the movie.”
Where to get it
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The War of Art
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a classic exploration of the creative process that identifies internal psychological barriers and offers strategies to overcome self-imposed resistance.
Discussed“But then I have another one another sort of war of art type book that I'm starting on now.”
Where to get it
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Inner Work
Inner Work by Robert A.
Recommended“there's a wonderful book about interpretation of dreams called inner work by robert johnson which i highly recommend to anybody”
Where to get it
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The Kybalion
The Kybalion by Three Initiates is a classic text exploring the fundamental principles of Hermetic philosophy.
Recommended“have you heard of a book called A cabalian no well is to be right up your street the hermetics were Egyptians”
Where to get it
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic American novel chronicling a runaway boy and an enslaved man traveling down the Mississippi River on a raft.
Discussed“You look I at least I do. Yeah. Or I'll say, "Where's the story going to?" You know, like if it's um if it's Huckleberry Finn, it's got to be the moment where he's supposed to write the letter that turns Jim the slave in and he says, "Fuck this. I'm not going to do it." Right?”
Where to get it
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Blade runner 2049
Discussed“Even in LadeRunner 2049, I know I'm citing movies or whatever, the Ryan Gosling character K is told, "Turn in your badge and your gun, you're off the case."”
Where to get it
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Braveheart
Discussed“Ah, that's a that's a principle uh that my friend Randy Wallace who wrote Braveheart taught me and um it was that the first act kind of introduces the hero but in the second act the villain has to come forward.”
Where to get it
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Casablanca
Casablanca by Richard J.
Discussed“like one of the classic cases of uh a hero giving up something is in Casablanca where the Bogart character at the end of the movie gives up the love of his life, Ingred Bergman, right? He puts her on the plane to Lisbon with her husband...”
Where to get it
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Composed
Discussed“and roseanne as she describes this in in her book composed she said i woke up from this dream shaken to the core”
Where to get it
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Discipline Equals Freedom
Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink is a direct, no-nonsense guide outlining the daily principles, mental fortitude, and operational mindset the author uses to navigate life.
Discussed“my friend Jocko he uh has this quote Discipline Equals Freedom”
Where to get it
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Interior Chinatown
Discussed“I say for instance in Chinatown when um Jack Nicholson the detective first meets Fay Dunaway she's the one who knows all the answers right what he's trying to find you know he's trying to get dig up what's behind the murders of this and that and the other...”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville is an epic American masterpiece detailing Captain Ahab's obsessive, destructive quest for vengeance against the giant white whale that maimed him, interwoven with exhaustive details of nineteenth-century whaling.
Discussed“For instance, we were talking about this earlier, David, in Moby Dick, which has no female characters at all. The sea is the female. And if you think about the sea carrying the mystery, the sea is into the depths which Moby Dick dives.”
Where to get it
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is a classic American novel that examines institutional oppression, individuality, and mental health through the experiences of patients in a psychiatric ward ruled by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched.
Discussed“Well, Jack Nicholson is this guy who is a kind of a livewire high energy guy and he gets sentenced to um an insane asylum, right, where all the people are sort of really down and he kind of energizes everybody, you know, but he runs the foul of nurse Ratchet, uh the bad nurse that runs him and the”
Where to get it
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Schindler's List
Discussed“If you think about um Schindler's List. Yeah. You know what could be more horrific than that? But it's a beautiful movie. Yeah. And you know that Spielberg and the cameraman and the lighting, they went to incredible pains to make up every frame, you know, work.”
Where to get it
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Shane
Discussed“Oh, great Western starring Alan Lad as a gunslinger that comes into this threatened environment of um sodbusters in a in a kind of range war against cattlemen. And Brandon Dewilda, who at that time was like 6 years old, he was the innocent. He was the child in that thing.”
Where to get it
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The Big Lebowski
Discussed“The big Labowski. Yeah, you're familiar with that one, right? The dude Jeff Bridges. If you think about the Big Labowski, the genre of the Big Labowski is a detective story. Okay. Right. The dude is kind of given an assignment at the start by a rich guy.”
Where to get it
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The Emperor's New Clothes
Discussed“So, it's again when I'm kind of writing a story, if I've if I have a child or an animal in there that just comes sort of naturally, like I feel like I need some kind of an animal in here. When I'm when I switch over to my left brain and ask myself, what's going on here? A lot”
Where to get it
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The French Connection
Discussed“In Silence of the Lambs, um Clarice Stalling gets stripped of her badge and her gun to pursue this case. In the French connection, Gene Hackman and Roy Shider have to turn in their badge and their gun.”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey of Homer
The Odyssey of Homer by Homer is an ancient epic poem recounting Odysseus's arduous journey home from the Trojan War and his encounters with various mythological trials.
Discussed“they said oh uh Homer's description of Troy in the in the Iliad was a bunch of [ __ ]”
Where to get it
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The Virtues of War
Discussed“But the first he was in he was in Tides of War and he was in the Virtues of War.”
Where to get it
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L.
Discussed“Ah you've done your your research. Great. um in sort of the classic hero's journey model of a story the uh if we think of let's say um Wizard of Oz the story starts out act one is the ordinary world so it's Dorothy in Kansas da da da with her dog Toto...”
Where to get it
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Tides of War
Tides of War by Steven Pressfield is a celebrated historical fiction novel that plunges readers into the brutal conflicts of ancient Greece, focusing on the Spartans and the historic Battle of Thermopylae.
Discussed“But the first he was in he was in Tides of War and he was in the Virtues of War.”
Where to get it
Books Steven Pressfield wrote
- The War of Art
- Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
- Govt Cheese
- Turning Pro
- Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be
- Gates of Fire
- The Legend of Bagger Vance
- The Virtues of War
- The Artist's Journey
- Do the Work!
- Tides of War
- A Man at Arms
- The Arcadian
- The Warrior Ethos
- The lion's gate
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| What’s Actually Stopping You From Doing Your Best Work | The Daily Stoic | 2026-08-22 | 5 |
| How to Write Remarkably Well — Steven Pressfield | How I Write | 2026-03-04 | 13 |
| Joe Rogan Experience #1901 - Steven Pressfield | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2024-06-27 | 7 |
| How To Turn Pro - Steven Pressfield - #220 | Modern Wisdom | 2020-09-17 | 2 |
Other mentions (13: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's in "The War of Art," actually. I wrote this out in "The War of Art." Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think it's on page 114 or 115.”
“In fact, if I can hype one of my books, it's a small follow-up to "The War of Art" called "Nobody Wants to Read Your S***." And a lot of it is about what you learn in advertising,”
“In fact, I wrote a memoir called "Govt Cheese." I don't know if you've heard about this one at all. But the chapters are named after the various mentors that I've had, many of them.”
“And my book, "Turning Pro," is about that, flipping that switch in your head that costs no money. You don't have to take a course. You don't have to get certified.”
“put your ass where your heart wants to be this is sort of like a war of art type of book”
“then what came after that was Gates of Fire book about the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae”
“in my book The Legend of bag of France it really was about previous lives you know it was about”
“that were um what i call in the book shadow activities not the real activities they were close to them but they were not really them”
“i think i even wrote this in turning pro that i used to work in this office here where i am right now”
“i had that dream and i talked about the war of art called lark can you see that”
“it's called a man in arms and it's a novel”
“you know there's a in in my book the virtues of war I have you read that there's a character named telamon who's actually it's a long story”
“and I you know there's one of the things that I did in my book the artist journey is that there were certain things where I tracked or just listed in order like all of Bruce Springsteen's albums or all of Philip Roth's books”