Range - Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
David Epstein
Summary
Using countless examples, David Epstein makes the case that learning about a lot of different things helps you triumph in a hyper-specialized world. Bill Gates even recommended it as one of his best books of 2020 (here)
Rating: 4/5
Notes
Brilliance relies on repetitive structures like chunking for memory
Our greatest strength as humans is the exact opposite of narrow specialization
3 IQ points gained on average every 10 years in 30 countries
Strong evidence that too many lessons at a young age is not beneficial but that the most successful people were the ones who tried many instruments
Tolerating big mistakes can create the best learning opportunities
Training with hints does not produce any lasting learning
Ease is a sign you are not learning, unlike frustration
Studying problems jumbled together improves performance more than block studying
In a wicked world, use analogies from completely outside the box to solve your problem
Narrowly focusing on specific details to a problem is the exact wrong thing to do. Take a wide angle view
Explanation is not just a whimsical luxury of education; it’s a central benefit
Those who switch careers are winners
All the dark horses (most successful people) had short term planning goals. Just do whatever you can now to learn as much as possible
The precise person you are now is fleeting, just like all the other people you’ve been
We learn who we are only by living, not before
You don’t know what’s good and bad when things happen. You do not know. You have to wait to find out.
Magnesium has as much evidence as working for migraines than ibuprofen because someone was able to collect and aggregate common knowledge amongst many different domains
Broad experience makes creatives better on average and more likely to innovate
The best forecasters are open minded, extremely curious and constantly looking for contrary ideas in other disciplines to challenge their thinking
Consider completely unrelated events with structural commonalities rather than relying on intituition based on personal experience
If you’re analyzing a problem, make sure you understand if you have all the data points and the data you’re looking at is complete
Don’t feel behind. Compare yourself to yourself from yesterday, not anyone else. Start planning experiments and innovate
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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
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Buy the book here
Free E-book download here
