Lessons from “Range” by David Epstein
The age of the generalist is upon us…
How many of us can say we’ve dedicated our lives, or a large part of a life, to the pursuit of a singular skill?
I expect the answer of yes, to be few and far between. It’s not that I don’t believe in you, it’s that, like myself, I believe you have a range of experiences under your belt.
David Epstein recently published the profound book (and article) Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.
The book’s mission: to redefine how we think about achieving expertise, reached its goal.
This book provides case studies from how teams of humans continue to beat out artificial intelligence systems in different games, to how some of the greatest athletes, scientists, and artists reached the pinnacle of their concentration. Epstein also dives into the science of diverse experience, which contradicts the idea of “10,000 hours” as the sole route to achieve mastery of a skill.
It’s safe to say: the time of the specialist is over — the age of the generalist is here.
