Pressfield's other non-fiction The War of Art was one of the most influential books in my career. Accordingly, when I heard he published a book called The Warrior Ethos I was beyond stoked. I purchased it on my Ipad kindle and read it within 24 hours of hearing about it. It is a short read, only 90 some pages, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't exactly what I expected. I was hoping for Pressfield to construct a paradigm similar to what Carlos Castaneda did in Wheel of Time. I wanted a real practical guideline about how to build your own warrior code.
The Warrior Ethos is an insightful discussion of the great warrior cultures of the past--A passion of Pressfield. The stories and parables from Sparta, Alexander's Campaigns, and Cyrus the Great's Persia are worth the read by themselves. Personally, the work reminded me what it takes to be a great leader and gave me a lot of cool stories to tell over a campfire or in the board room. I recommend it, but is it an absolute necessity? Probably not.
