‘The slowest growth,’ the researchers wrote, occurs ‘for the most complex skills.’” Teaching them how to hunt for and connect contextual clues to understand what they read can be… The trouble is that a head start comes fast, but deep learning is slow.

“Teaching kids to read a little early is not a lasting advantage.

“The sampling period is not incidental to the development of great performers-something to be excised in the interest of a head start-it is integral.” Yo-Yo Ma “started on violin, moved to piano, and then to the cello because he didn’t really like the first two instruments.” “As complexity increases-as technology spins the world into vaster webs of interconnected systems in which each individual only sees a small part-we also need more Rogers: people who start broad and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives while they progress.” The book starts by contrasting Tiger Woods, who began golfing at age two, and Roger Federer, who dabbled in a lot of activities before taking up competitive tennis. In Range, David Epstein examines the advantages of having a range of experiences, a broader perspective, an interdisciplinary approach, and the value of flexible thinking and reasoning in a world full complexity and uncertainty where precise, deterministic solutions are unknowable.

“The response, in every field, to a ballooning library of human knowledge and an interconnected world has been to exalt increasingly narrow focus… Both training and professional incentives are aligning to accelerate specialization, creating intellectual archipelagos.” Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Range by david epstein