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Steven Pressfield books: every book Steven Pressfield wrote and recommended
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Steven Pressfield appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Steven Pressfield
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Gates of Fire
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The Legend of Bagger Vance
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Killing Rommel
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The Afghan campaign
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Tides of War
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Govt Cheese
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Last of the Amazons
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The War of Art
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The Virtues of War
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36 Righteous Men
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Alexander
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Profession
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A Man at Arms
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Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be
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The Artist's Journey
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Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
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The lion's gate
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Turning Pro
Steven Pressfield’s most recommended books
- Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, Joost Elffers
- Falling Upward by Richard Rohr
- Inner Work by Robert A. Johnson
- Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- The Kybalion by Three Initiates
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Blade runner 2049 by Unknown
- Braveheart by Randall Wallace
Steven Pressfield is an American author of historical fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays, including his 1995 novel The Legend of Bagger Vance and 2002 nonfiction book The War of Art. Across various podcast appearances, he has shared and discussed several notable book recommendations with his hosts and listeners. On The Joe Rogan Experience, Pressfield brought up The Kybalion by Three Initiates to introduce hermetic philosophy to Joe Rogan. While appearing on How I Write, he recommended his own novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance, to David Perell. During an episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, Pressfield mentioned Richard Rohr's book Falling Upward. On The Daily Stoic, he praised Ryan Holiday's book Discipline Is Destiny, referencing one of its quotes to highlight the theme of discipline and explicitly recommending that listeners purchase a copy. In the same conversation, host Ryan Holiday reflected on an annual tradition of starting Lives of the Stoics, co-authored by Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Finally, on The Rich Roll Podcast, Pressfield discussed reading Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, noting that he admired the book for its detailed descriptions and had read it numerous times over the years.
Books recommended by Steven Pressfield
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Gates of Fire
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield is a historical novel detailing the heroic Spartan stand at the Battle of Thermopylae.
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 War of Art
Steven Pressfield's The War of Art serves as a profound guide for creatives, entrepreneurs, and thinkers seeking to understand and conquer the psychological barriers that hinder productivity and inspiration.
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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The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield is a mystical historical novel that reimagines the Hindu spiritual text the Bhagavad Gita through the lens of a depressed veteran participating in a high-stakes golf tournament during the Great Depression.
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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Discipline Is Destiny
Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday is a compelling book that examines the power of self-control through historical examples and Stoic philosophy.
Recommended“that was in your book about discipline yeah so yes so which is a great book by the way”
Where to get it
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The 48 Laws of Power
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers is a provocative guide examining historical strategies for acquiring and navigating power.
Discussed“And, and again, it was sort of with luck where somebody came to him and said, Hey, I want you to write this book and the 48 laws of power.”
Where to get it
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Falling Upward
Falling Upward by Richard Rohr is a spiritual guidebook that explores the transition from the first half of life to the second, framing aging and crisis as opportunities for spiritual growth.
Recommended“And he wrote a book called Falling Upward.”
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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Lives of the Stoics
Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman is a comprehensive biographical exploration of ancient philosophy, tracing the history of Stoicism from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius through the personal stories of its most notable practitioners.
Recommended“Two days later, one year later, I started Lives; like I realized I was sort of almost unconsciously on a schedule of starting a book on this day five years in a row. Wow.”
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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The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a classic Lost Generation novel chronicling the disillusionment, travels, and romantic entanglements of a group of American and British expatriates in Europe.
Recommended“And but, actually right now I'm reading "The Sun Also Rises," Hemingway's book from, it's like the 10th time I've read it.”
Where to get it
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic American novel depicting a young boy's journey down the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, confronting society and morality.
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
Braveheart by Randall Wallace is a historical drama and narrative work following the life of the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace.
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, minimalist field manual designed to help individuals cultivate mental toughness and personal accountability.
Discussed“my friend Jocko he uh has this quote Discipline Equals Freedom”
Where to get it
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Everybody Behaves Badly
Discussed“everyone behaves badly it's a book about I just read that a little while ago yeah it's a great book”
Where to get it
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Interior Chinatown
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is a satirical, formally inventive novel that uses the format of a television script to examine race, media representation, and the immigrant experience in America.
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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Journal of a Novel
Journal of a Novel by John Steinbeck is a collection of letters written by the author to his editor during the composition of East of Eden, offering a candid and revealing look into his daily writing routine and psychological struggles.
Discussed“you recommended this John Steinbeck uh book to me Journal of a novel”
Where to get it
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Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Gustav Jung is a deeply personal autobiography that chronicles the influential psychiatrist's inner life, dreams, and foundational theories of the human psyche.
Discussed“I know you've read Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, right?”
Where to get it
The other 17 books Steven Pressfield recommended or discussed, ranked
- MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- Save the cat! by Blake Snyder
- Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
- Shane by Jack Schaefer
- The Big Lebowski by J.M. Tyree
- The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
- The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- The emperor's new clothes by Hans Christian Andersen
- The French Connection by Robin Moore
- The Odyssey by Homer
- The Searchers by Alan Le May
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
- The Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- Tides of War by Steven Pressfield
Appearances
Other mentions (33: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“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”
“I was going to write The Sun Also Rises or something?”
“So anyway, that's, you'll like the book. The Authentic Swing, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Way better than the movie.”
“And then I have on my wall, I have the last page from the typewritten manuscript of Gates of Fire signed by the author. Yeah, I have a bunch of those little totems too, myself.”
“This is in Govt Cheese.”
“This is in the book The War of Art, where I came back into my little basement room and instead of it being a total mess, the room had organized itself and my shirt had all folded themselves and my boots had shined themselves and sat.”
“He's a chapter in Govt Cheese.”
“And this is all in Govt Cheese, by the way.”
“And this book, Govt Cheese, is my time in the wilderness.”
“Now, I wrote a book called The Artist's Journey that — I had never heard of Richard Rohr.”
“Steven Pressfield: That's what "government cheese" means.”
“You know, and I think that where my attention goes when I'm really doing it right, like if I'm writing a book like Gates of Fire or something like that, my attention goes to that world that is being created kind of through me, but not by me in the moment, you know?”
“the other thing like in uh in my book The Lion's gate about the 67 Israeli War that was one of the things most should die on the great Israeli General said”
“um uh there's a rabbi he wrote that book um when good things happen to bad people I forget I know the book but I do”
“And thank you for giving me a copy of your book, 'The Daily Stoic,' which inspired me to write a book as well.”
“Walker Percy is a great kind of writing hero of mine and he wrote a book, I'm blanking on the name of it now, but in the book, it's not "The Moviegoer,"”
“Like, if you were creating the world of "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones," right?”
“Like, if you were creating the world of "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones," right?”
“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”