Range Book Review
Range, by David Epstein, is about how people who start with their passions later in life are often more successful than people who specialize in their field early on. For example, professional tennis player Roger Federer only started playing tennis at age 8, which is much later than most tennis players. Some may have thought that he started too late to be good at tennis, but Roger Federer is arguably the most successful male tennis player ever. Roger Federer is contrasted to Tiger Woods, whose father started him on golf at the age of 2. He planned his future from a young age and tried to mold him into the best golfer in the world. Although Tiger Woods was a successful golfer, Epstein argues that not everything in life is like golf, where instead life has many intricacies that make this world very messy. Not every problem in this world can be solved by specialists, but instead, we sometimes need people to look at the big picture and solve problems from different perspectives. For example, there is a website that connects people from different fields so that they can solve problems that specialists cannot solve. Sometimes it takes time spent on other activities to solve problems, which is why we should stop being surprised when successful people are people who started late or switched fields.
What I took out of this book was to never feel behind on anything that I do. There will always be people who seem to be “ahead” in life, such as elementary students learning calculus or teens working for Facebook. There is no rush to get ahead in life because this world is much more complex than we think it is.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology or business because it really made me rethink the way I spend my time. I now feel better about spending time on activities I like to rather than spending time on activities I felt obligated to do.
Do you have any book suggestions? If so, which book do you recommend and why?
After I finish the book that I am currently reading, I will read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life which looks really good. Going back to what you said I disagree that starting early doesn't make a person more successful. You used Roger Federer as an example, so think how much better he would be if he started in life earlier. I think that people should at least spark their interests in certain subjects as kids and then as they grow learn more and more about that subject.
ReplyDeleteHey Yair, I also think that you can develop a skill late in life and be good at it. I'm not reading any books at the moment but i'll let you know if I read anything good.
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