Book Review — Range by David Epstein
I had to go back and look at my previous book reviews to realize that it took me about 3.5 months to get through Range.
I had created a relationship with the book and it was more me, than the book, causing our relationship to fault — it’s not you, it’s me. I found the first half of the book exhausting but like I said I was the problem and not the content of the book.
I found range through a Podcast I listen to called CFO Bookshelf. CFO Bookshelf is hosted by Mark Gandy who does a phenomenal job of interviewing guests across the business spectrum in a way that anyone can gain incredible insights. At the end of each interview Mark asks what book the interviewee is currently reading or what book has had a profound impact. Range was a book I found through that question, though I don’t recall which guest recommended it I am very appreciative that they did.
The byline is Why Generalist Triumph in Specialized World.
As I said I found the book dry and tough at the beginning but it was all for the dessert that begins in the 9th chapter. Chapter 9 starts 191 pages into the book and is a catalyst for the remainder of the book that is delightful and equally insightful.
All too often we don’t celebrate failure or the learnings we gain from failure, this book seeks to encourage that behavior. On a recent CFO Bookshelf Podcast Mark Gandy lamented that “experience is what is gained when things don’t go as expected”. Range celebrates failure or the experimentation. The book exposes the conflicting ideas of whether a specialist, someone like Tiger Wood’s who at an early age started playing golf and deeply studied the field of golf, or a generalist, an individual who seeks breadth of knowledge with some depth of knowledge in a particular field, is more apt to succeed. It’s a counterviewpoint to Malcom Gladwell's thesis in Outliers which expounds on the importance of the 10,000 hour rule — it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials.
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.
David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields — especially those that are complex and unpredictable — generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.
Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
Synopsis of Range by David Epstein
The book does an excellent job of presenting the case that in present times (information is more available than it ever has been) a generalist is more likely to succeed than a specialist. The book masterfully presents the Carter Racing Case which is a powerful way to showcase the importance of good decision tree mapping, data analysis, judgment, and overall decision making. The book also details the failures at NASA regarding a data driven organization. In moments when data lacked richness at NASA the organization really faltered in their decision making. It’s parallel to the idea I presented in another Medium post, as humans it is difficult to adapt and use new or innovative ways to solve problems, I used the example that when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. When you’re a specialist you’re a hammer surrounded by nails but a generalist is a tool box surrounded by a myriad of other implements that fit any one of the tools in the toolbox. A specialist is too encumbered by pre-existing bias and contrastingly a generalist is not tied down to any biases.
Book Rating 7/10 (first half of the book 4, second half 10 — power through)
