Zen in the Art of Archery

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1. jcynixMay 2025
   If your wife isn't happy to see you fencing (which I can understand) you might want to take a look at archery instead? And add this book (which impressed me during my teenage years) to your reading list:

   Zen in the Art of Archery - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery

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2. barrenkoOct 2020
   As to any discipline that deals with abject failure, I'd recommend reading "Zen in the art of archery".
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3. bookofjoeNov 2018
   "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"—Richard P. Feynman (1959) http://www.phy.pku.edu.cn/~qhcao/resources/class/QM/Feynman'...

   "Zen in the Art of Archery" — Eugen Herrigel (1953)http://www.ideologic.org/files/Eugen_Herrigel_-_Zen_in_the_A...

   "What is it like to be a bat?" — Thomas Nagel (1974) https://organizations.utep.edu/portals/1475/nagel_bat.pdf

   "The Tragedy of the Commons" — Garrett Hardin (1968) https://www.hendrix.edu/uploadedFiles/Admission/GarrettHardi...

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4. crazygringoJun 2018
   This feels like the start of scientific insight into what is described in the classic Zen in the Art of Archery. [1]

   [1] https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Archery-Eugen-Herrigel/dp/037...

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5. hussongJan 2016
   You might like the book "Zen in the Art of Archery" by Eugen Herrigel, first published in 1948 / 1953 (German / English).
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6. calinet6Feb 2015
   In a naïve sense, there is a bit of Zen philosophy in it. As you say, other companies obsess and work extremely hard to design products that are ultimately worse; what of the paradox that extreme effort results in a poor result? Why, that's one of the tenets of Zen.

   At the same time, while reducing certain parts to a paradoxical simplicity, Apple knows where the effort should be directed: at building systems. Getting to the root of problems and optimizing them away. Asking the question, what is the core from which all of this grows? What is its form? And working diligently on that, trusting that the output will be pure because of it. That's how quality is done; it's why the Japanese so readily accepted the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, and it's fundamentally how Jobs turned Apple around.

   Lots of lessons here, the most important of which are not technological in the slightest.

   Recommended reading:

   Zen in the Art of Archery: http://rum1.aarch.dk/uploads/media/Eugen_Herrigel-Zen_in_the...

   The Zen of Steve Jobs: http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2012/the-zen-of-steve-j...

   A Short intro to the teachings of W. Edwards Deming: https://shrikale.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/a-short-introducti...

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

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