Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (2016) by K. Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

This was an interesting read regarding deliberate practice and what makes experts in a given field extraordinary. Find something you’re interested in and motivated to succeed in; select a teacher or mentor who is an expert in the field; and set along a course of purposeful and systematic—deliberate—practice to develop and hone the skills essential to be the best in your field. Perhaps a simplification of a much more complicated process but this is, in essence, what was outlined in Peak. I particularly enjoyed Ericsson’s attempt to clarify the “ten thousand hours” concept which Malcolm Gladwell popularized, and shine some light on the fact that practicing isn’t enough on it’s own; practicing the same thing over and over, in a wrong way, for hours on end will not make an expert. Although I do think this book could have accomplished the same level of commentary in far fewer pages it was a worthwhile read.