Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everyone Else by Geoff Colvin

Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everyone Else by Geoff Colvin

This book is an argument for "deliberate practice" over long time periods to create superior performance. It separates regular practice from "deliberate practice" by describing it as practice under expert guidance with specific goals for improvement. Some of the types of deliberate practice described are Tiger Wood's golf practice, Jerry Rice's football practice, practicing to become a concert musician or a master chess player.

The book describes how "deliberate practice" can be applied in more mundane situations. For example if you wanted to improve your writing skills, you might read The Elements of Style, analyze the stories of O. Henry, and study print design in a focused manner. What is described is not easy to do, and requires quite a bit of concentration. I can see how it could be done with something like blogging or poetry.

There are three focuses in practice which are talked about; improving knowledge, improving memory of the subject being studied, and percieving more. The book states that it takes ten years to master most subjects. This is why it is so important to start at a very young age in so many fields like ballet and music. I don't see why it is not perfectly applicable to gardening or any other interest.

This book is an argument against the concept of nature versus nurture. It says that focus and concentration on a specific skill under expert guidance for many hours a day are what make superior performance. I rather like the idea and can see some of the point. However, I am not completely ready to count talent out. It is a very intellectual book. It makes you think.

Daily Thoughts 7/21/2009 ( Twitter )

Sculpture Maigret (1966) by Pieter d'Hont in Delfzijl/The Netherlands. Maigret is a fictional detective by Georges Simenon.

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2009

I read some more of Talent Is Overrated. At this point in the book, they are talking about innovation. They tell us that most major innovations come after at least ten years of "deliberate practice" in a given field. This is a rather interesting idea. It is different explanation than the one of natural talent. It says you must develop deep knowledge of what you are doing to create breakthrough innovations.

I picked up Wildfire by Sarah Micklem from the new books section. It is the sequel to Firethorn which is a fantasy novel. I like the cover art on these books by Mark Stutzman. I think he did an excellent job. http://www.workbook.com/portfolios/stutzman Sometimes, the artist who an author chooses to illustrate a book cover is very critical in how a book sells.

I weeded some of the large print books and the mystery books. I am also considering changing how we order large print books.

Web Bits

A book vending machine in the subways in Spain. I am wondering how long a machine like this would last in a Manhattan, New York subway. http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/the-literary-vending-machine/

http://news.bookweb.org/6924.html
Savvy Booksellers Use Twitter to Draw Crowds, Boost Sales

An opinion piece on libraries from the Christian Science Monitor. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090717/cm_csm/ywisner

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2009 ( Talent Is Overrated ) ( Kreativ Blogger Award )

This was an appreciation award given by William Bentrim http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/

Herodotus and Thucydides

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2009

We created a new section for citizenship books and material next to the ESL books. I think it is the right practical thing to do. I also have been checking for books to mend and clean. They are mainly replacing plastic covers on books.

My orders were put in for the month this morning for July. I am putting in fiction orders for August. I like to be well ahead of time on ordering things.

Right now the computer technician is setting up a laptop with a handheld scanner so I can check the shelves without bringing the books upstairs and downstairs. It will make things go much faster.

They are shifting books to make room in the 700s. Hopefully, when they are done, I think there will be a little extra room and I will be able to merchandise the graphic novels.

We have a new part time librarian who came in today. I am looking forward to working with him. It has been a nice quiet day today at the library.

Sometimes I don't have a huge amount to say. I read some more of Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. I am learning about the difference between practice and "deliberate practice". Deliberate practice is practice focused around improving specific skills using expert instruction. This is what separates the practice of experts like Jerry Rice, the football star, and Ben Franklin who spent hours every single day practicing his writing.

An example of how I might use "deliberate practice" to improve my writing skills would be for me to read Fowler's English Usage and then The Elements of Style, followed by learning more about wordprocessing software, then taking O. Henry's short stories and rewriting them in my own words.

As a condition of the award, I have to list seven of my favorite things.

1. Walking, I try and walk a lot on the weekends.
2. Libraries ( I go there a lot)
3. Bookstores (Especially ones like the Strand)
4. Conventions ( Comic and book conventions are best )
5. Reading ( I even like reading labels on cereal boxes )
6. Cartoons (The old ones are best, Superman, Betty Boop, Popeye )
7. Coffee ( I drink too much coffee)

My favorite blogs:

1. Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/
2. Kimbooktu http://kimbooktu.wordpress.com/
3. Read Street http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/
4. I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book http://residentreader.blogspot.com/
5. The Thin Red Line http://libdrone.info/
6. Cromely's World http://cromely.blogspot.com/
7. Pick of the Literate http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
   
   

Sunday Musings 7/19/209 ( Facebook, Bookmarketing Ning )

Sinclair Lewis, Nobel laureate in Literature 1930

Sunday Musings 7/19/2009

I just joined http://bookmarket.ning.com/ I am hoping I can learn a few new things.

I just joined Facebook again. http://www.facebook.com/BookCalendar Facebook is not supposed to allow anonymity. For your eddification, I am now Charles Dickens writer of Tale of Two Cities an excellent book. I cannot be Jack Kerouac that is not allowed. My friend asked me to join Facebook so I could look at pictures. I am not that fond of all the little applications, but I will give it another try.

I have started reading Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin. This book gives a different answer than nature versus nurture. It talks about starting at an early age, being intensely interested in what you are doing, concentrating very hard, and practicing a lot every single day. The author describes this in the context of John D. Rockefeller, Warren Buffett, and Tiger Woods so far.

It is free online to read Chris Anderson's Book Free: The Future of a Radical Price on SCRIBD.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17135767/FREE-full-book-by-Chris-Anderson