Range - Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David Epstein
Summary
- The world today focuses a lot on specialization, but evidence is mounting that generalization is what gives us more creativity, better ideas and better mental models to understand the world around us. Epstein lays out some very convincing arguements to prove this
How I discovered it
- Bill Gates recommendation
How the book changed me
- I have always loved learning different fields, even though people sometimes look at me askance. This has been very encouraging that being a generalist is okay, and sometimes even an advantage.
Details
- Duke Ellington, famous composer and musician did not get serious about music when young. Instead he focussed on drawing and baseball.
- Maryam Mirzakhani, mathematician who wanted to be a novelist.
- Learning is best done slowly to accumulate lasting knowledge even if it means doing badly in the short term
- Downsides of specialization - You are less likely to die of heart surgery when cardiologists are away
- Susan Polgar, Chess grandmaster, was trained from an early age to excel. This works with something specific like chess where the rules do not change (see also, Tiger Woods and golf). But in most things in life, the rules change by the day and this kind of specialized training may not be beneficial.
- In more comple fields, the rules are unclear or incomplete, and there may be no easy pattern to recognise.
- When we get used to doing things a particular way, it is harder to learn something new
- Most university graduates go on to jobs unrelated to their degree
- The figlia del coro - The all female multi-instrumental band
- Yo-Yo Ma tried a variety of instruments before settling on the cello
- Learning multiple instruments more likely to result in exceptional musical ability
- Dave Brubeck learned music in a non-traditional way: he could not sight read music.
- Django Reinhardt also couldn't read music. In fact, he couldn't even read words.
- The Generation Effect - Even a wrong answer helps you learn better than no answer
- Learning with hints is bad for your long term remembering, even in monkeys
- Spaced repetition is the best way to remember things
- Learn like a baby - Just dive in and try it
- Switching trades or specialities has a clear benefit
- Test and learn is preferable to plan and implement strategy
- Chrissie Wellington won the Ironman world championship 4 times
- We need both ability to see broad and far, and ability to see close and deep
- The fox knows many things the hedgehog only one thing
- Making sense of something better than making a decision
- Vannevar Bush
- Tu Youyou, Chinese scientist who discovered Artemisinin