Range – How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World – By David Epstein
It took me a month to finish reading this book, but I did it this morning. This book is an eye-opener. If time permits, I would like to revisit a few chapters just to soak in the information once more.
Our educational and social upbringing usually teaches us that to survive successfully in this competitive and complicated world, we must be hyper-specialized to navigate it. A perfect example that Epstein starts with is Tiger Woods and his golf lessons. The Art of Deliberate practice worked wonders for Woods and Laszlo Polgar’s genius chess playing daughters.
Range shows that having a broad spectrum of skills and interests and taking the time to figure them out is alright. Agreed that it might take longer to find your calling, but the advantage that comes from being a generalist is that one can build more connections in different fields making the generalist more innovative and creative.
Epstein shares examples from pros in every field, from sports to music to science. He further explains why cultivating a large range of skills will ultimately make one more successful. He encourages the reader to take their time and allow for more flexibility and creativity.
Biggest disadvantage of specialization – Because of their narrow focus, the specialists tend to have exclusive theories about how things work, which often leads them to acknowledge evidence that support their existing beliefs, and discard the contradictory ones. Specialized knowledge may create a huge blind spot to the myriad possibilities.
Some generalist examples from the book:
Roger Federer – He dabbled in many other sports including skiing, basketball, tennis, skateboarding, and badminton before becoming a world champion of tennis.
Yo-Yo Ma – This world-renowned cellist first played the piano and violin. It was his distaste for those instruments that led him to the cello.
Van Gogh – He worked in bookstores, art dealing and even tried his hand at preaching before discovering his true calling was to be an artist.
Key Learnings
- The world needs both vertical-thinking specialists AND lateral-thinking generalists. Generalists are Ying to the Specialists’ Yang.
- One should not be afraid to quit. Persistence for the sake of persistence may be more of a hindrance than anything else.
- Experience is never wasted. A large volume of experience in diverse fields is usually linked to being more innovative and successful.
To know more about my tryst with non-fiction books, read here…
I am yet to start the book. But what I know of it and your analysis makes me think, I am going to love it.
I am sure you’d love it…