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Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success Review

The grade school teacher who kindly says of her charge, "she is so talented" is not doing anybody any good. This is a very well written introduction to the powerful research started by Anders Ericsson in the acquisition of expertise. Psychology professors have spent a lot of time studying proplemed people, but this is the psychology of top performers. The good news is it is not talent - it's something called deliberative practice (which the author here calls the maybe better sounding purposeful practice). The bad news is that is takes ten years of such practice to get really really good. So it can be done, but there are no magic short cuts.

This is familiar turf to readers of Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How., Outliers: The Story of Success, or The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology) - but to folks new to the idea this is a great introduction to some very important ideas. The style is smooth, and the story is personal as the author actually experienced what it takes to perform at elite Olympian levels. It is well referenced for folks who want to read further and covers some interesting applications such as the failure of Enron and the success of black athletes. However the book doesn't move the subject much further forward, and does kind of run out of steam towards the end.

If you haven't read the books I listed, then this is a must buy, as this knowledge will truly change your understanding of humans get good. If you have these books, well, it adds color but will not seem so mind-blowing.

Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success Feature

ISBN13: 9780061723759
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Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success Overview

Why have all the sprinters who have run the 100 meters in under ten seconds been black?
What's one thing Mozart, Venus Williams, and Michelangelo have in common?
Is it good to praise a child's intelligence?
Why are baseball players so superstitious?

Few things in life are more satisfying than beating a rival. We love to win and hate to lose, whether it's on the playing field or at the ballot box, in the office or in the classroom. In this bold new look at human behavior, award-winning journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed explores the truth about our competitive nature—why we win, why we don't, and how we really play the game of life. Bounce reveals how competition—the most vivid, primal, and dramatic of human pursuits—provides vital insight into many of the most controversial issues of our time, from biology and economics, to psychology and culture, to genetics and race, to sports and politics.

Backed by cutting-edge scientific research and case studies, Syed shatters long-held myths about meritocracy, talent, performance, and the mind. He explains why some people thrive under pressure and others choke, and weighs the value of innate ability against that of practice, hard work, and will. From sex to math, from the motivation of children to the culture of big business, Bounce shows how competition provides a master key with which to unlock the mysteries of the world.

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Customer Reviews

So how come Ashkenazi Jews (0.1% of humanity) win 15% of all Nobel Prizes?... - A. Mandelman - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
One more book-- well written, yes (hence the two-stars)-- trying grimly to make the case that hard work is everything, talent almost nothing.

And yet, Ashkenazi Jews, at mere 0.1% of humanity, win 15% of ALL Novel prizes, a 1/3rd of Pulitzer prizes, etc. etc. How come? Do Ashkenazi Jewish students really work so much harder than, say Vietnamese or Chinese American students? Even if they do, the sheer higher number of Oriental students would have led to much higher Nobel prizes for them. (They do get quite a bit as it is; but not nearly in the same proportion as do Ashkenazi Jews)

Or can it be-- shocking!-- that genius is innate?

Of course, not all geniuses are Jews. Gaus, Riemann, Ramanujan, Poincare, Ssun tzu, Sophie Germain, Flaubert, Nabokov, Ssu ma tzien-- geniuses are everywhere. But hard work does not a genius make. Anyone who claims otherwise doesn't know the difference between a real genius and a ping-pong champ.

It is interesting, though, that the argument on the other side is made by Steven and Sudan Pinker-- who thereby are tagged as right-wingers. The Pinkers claim that some qualities are indeed innate, and that, contra Gladwell and Syed, genius cannot be attained by hard work alone. It may be unfortunate, and unjust, but it is nevertheless a sad fact. Not everyone is a seven footer, and not everyone has an IQ of 190.

Yet the Pinkers' common-sense claim somehow offends the masses, who prefer to be told by Gladwell and Syed and their ilk that, if they (the masses) only practiced long enough, they, too, could compete with anyone, anywhere, in anything. Yes, in Chess (and in math, and in Physics, and in literature) with humanity's giants.

Bunkum.

Intriguing ideas; some overlap with Gladwell - Vincent Toolan - London United Kingdom
An Olympic athlete who benefited from a favourable coaching environment in his home town, Syed's thesis is that practice matters. It matters so much that it supplants the notion of 'talent' as the determinant of success. Tiger Woods and Mozart appear to have started out as child prodigies. In fact they had both clocked up thousands of hours of intense, purposeful practice at a very early age. Taking the argument further, he maintains that our notion of talent is invidious in that it deters us from persevering if we think we - or our children - are not naturally good at something.

There is some overlap with Gladwell's work (Outliers) - he seems to draw on some of the same case studies. He closes the book with a discussion of gene therapy and doping in sport and other endeavours.

For parents and educators - and those of us who believe we still have much to learn in life - this book is an interesting and thought provoking complement to Outliers and others.

Must read - book fan - usa
Of course about 95% of readers will disagree with much of the book. However, as someone who as competed in a lot of different things, and tried to learn a lot of different things in my life, I found myself saying "hey, he's talking about ME" in much of the book. It is such a fascinating book that I am about to finish it in one day, and my reading has slowed up in my advancing years.

His theme that "talent" doesn't really exist will have you scratching your head, or just waving off the book as not worth reading. But don't. Even if the theory is ridiculous to you, there's lots of other things of interest in this book: superstitions, positive thinking, (even religious thinking), choking in the big game or performance, even steroids and race.

This book gives one so much to relate to and think about. It's not a topic i usually read, but the book is just sensational. Five stars easily.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 26, 2010 09:15:05

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010