Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success
Where to buy Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success books online?
- ISBN13: 9780061723759
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
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 excellent to praise a child’s intelligence?
Why are baseball players so superstitious?
Few things in life are more satisfying than beating a rival. We like to win and despise to lose, whether it’s on the playing meadow 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 scenery—why we win, why we don’t, and how we really play the game of life. Bounce reveals how competition—the most plain, 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 clarifies 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 huge business, Bounce shows how competition provides a master key with which to unlock the mysteries of the world.
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I haven’t read the book but heard the leader speak on the radio. With his either/or approach (either an inborn talent or the training creats Mozart, Federer, etc) he has locked himself into a dead-end hypothesis: it is both, as permanently.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Disclaimer: I have not read this book yet but probably will.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the same thing in Outliers two years ago. I establish that topic fascinating.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Reasonably excellent, though to some extent redundant to “Talent is Over-Rated.” Also, it oddly concludes with two dubiously significant chapters on PED’s and the role of race in track & meadow. Otherwise, very excellent!
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Before I start, let me just state that I never read Malcom Gladwell’s “Outliers,” but I have a feeling this book is going to draw a lot of comparisons to that one. The premise seems to be exactly the same: Examining what appears to be “Natural” genius and learning that it is really the product of 10,000 hours of dedicated, all ears practice. All I can imagine is that the two authors were effective on their books at the same time, and Gladwell got his out first, leaving Syed in a rather unfortunate position…
In any case, I loved this book. I establish myself pulling out my highlighter and marking key sentences that can serve as motivation. The basic gist of the book is, as I stated, that anyone has the potential of apt incredibly successful in an endeavor AS LONG AS they engage in about 10,000 hours of PURPOSEFUL practice. This is where you work on things that you can’t do, with the goal of getting better. It requires not just dedication but also the right education and training. But from the anecdotal evidence Syed provides, it looks as though if you place persons things together, you WILL be successful.
Syed discusses parents who have made the choice to turn their kids into world-class athletes/chess-players/etc, and shows that with all ears training from an early age, the parents can be successful. But he gives fleeting shrift to the morality of it all. The whole book seems like it should naturally look at the philosophy of whether it is right to direct your child’s skills like this, and it should raise questions of predestination and whether WE have any control over our interests and skills, or if it is all training! But the book just barely touches on persons concepts, as a replacement for leaving the reader to marvel about it for himself. This was a bit frustrating.
And despite all the book’s anecdotes and repetition of the importance of 10,000 hours of purposeful practice, I couldn’t help but marvel if there really ARE people who are just naturally gifted and more able to make use of persons 10,000 hours. Of course common sense dictates that there are — after all, some peoples’ brains just work more QUICKLY than others (we have all veteran being in the same room as a name who just seems to have an IQ off the charts, and we are struggling to keep up…) In the end, despite all the data and anecdotes, I still establish myself questioning whether some people really ARE touched by God, as it were. As much as Syed tries to disprove the “supernaturally gifted” position, he never really allayed these persistent questions of mine.
That said, this was an brilliant book and I highly recommend it to anyone curious as to the right scenery of genius and excellence.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Would you judge Michael Jordon and Tiger Woods have no natural talents for their chosen sports? That Mozart’s early symphonies were average. Can you imagine that there is a formula for greatness and “talent” that has been learned and clarified in this book and several others? If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” then you will be familiar with the concepts in this book but I judge that this leader added much to the previous work and went into much more detail. The leader was also a ex- table tennis champion and two time Olympian so has personal knowledge of how he himself became among the best in the world at something. This book is like “Outliers 2.0″ while the first book clarified where the outliers came from and how they achieved greatness, this book shows you how it is possible for anyone to be an outlier with enough time, practice, education, and passion.
When studies were conducted in a composition college to know what separated excellent violinist from the best the psychologist conducting the study learned that purposeful practice was the only factor distinguishing the best from the rest. After examining all the factors involved in being a violinist it changed how excellence was understood- that it is practice, not talent, that ultimately matters and holds the key to success. Further studies across many disciplines confirmed that a minimum of ten years is required to reach world-class status in any complex task. There has been determined a 1000 hours per year, 10,000 hour rule that nearly all top performers in all fields have achieved before they were the best. Top performers are not born with sharper instincts, as a replacement for, they posses enhanced awareness of anticipation. This arises from the thousands of hours that they devote to their pursuits, they are masters of seeing patterns arise and renovate the instincts and ability to see where the ball or puck will end up. It is the regular practice that has agreed them this expertise, not genes. The ascendancy of the mental and the bought over the physical and the innate has been confirmed again and again through study after study.
In 1967, Laszlo Polgar, an educational psychologist set out to prove this theory. That hard work rather than talent could transform the education system if agreed half a chance. That we are not born with set “talents” but the innate abilities in children could be unlocked through practice, teaching, education, and the child’s own desire to excel in something. Polgar used his principles to train his three daughters in chess to prove his theory. What were the results? His first daughter won four world championships and five chess Olympiads. His second daughter won copious gold medals in chess Olympiads and also won eight straight games against many of the greatest male players in the world. His third daughter was a grandmaster by age fifteen, the youngest ever, and was the number one female chess player in the world for over a decade. Still people believed that it was a coincidence that the man who set out to prove the theory that talent is made not agreed at birth just happened to have some of the greatest chess players in history as children.
But here are some of the caveats to greatness. Mere experience, if it is not matched by deep concentration, does not translate into excellence. On the path to developing talent the person must have the ability to learn from failure and maintain confidence. Progress is built, in effect, upon the foundations of necessary failure; that is the essential paradox of practiced performance. The right training system must be in place to provide constant feedback on improving for better results. Practicing terrible form with no improvement does no excellent. Most of the people that went on to be the best had live in coaches (usually parents) or had hired coaches who taught them proper technique and how to reflect. Knowledge above all determines excellence; the kind of knowledge built through deep experience and that is encoded in the brain and central nervous system. Feedback is the rocket fuel that propels the acquisition of knowledge, and with out it no amount of practice is going to get anyone to greatness. The final factor is motivation, this is the key factor driving success and failure. When Tiger Woods was a child he loved to go with his father and play golf, he thought of it as a privilege and fun, he had a passion for the game. The Williams sisters in tennis felt the same way, they were not forced to play tennis as children, they loved it. Only passion and drive will allow anyone to go through the journey of the 10,000 hours to greatness and achieve what is falsely perceived as being born with “talent”. What I judge is so powerful about this book is that it can open up the mind of readers about what is possible and allow some one to pursue any dream after understanding the cost and what it will take to renovate talent in that meadow. These principles apply to all areas of life. I see the truth in them more and more each day now that my eyes have been opened. When you see incredible people performing at the highest levels in any meadow it is no doubt a result of at least 10,000 hours of practice, they were not born with their abilities.
Additional fantastic books about how talent is truly made:
“Talent is overrated” by Geoff Colvin
“The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle
“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5