Camelia Rose's Reviews > Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

The book opens with two well-known stories of two very different sports legends: Tiger Woods, an example of early specialization and dedication, and Roger Federer, who sampled many different sports before becoming a professional tennis player. The author’s main argument is that having a range of skills and knowledge is great, that early specialization is an exception not a rule, and “head-start” is overrated. He argues against the self-described tiger mum Amy Chua that to become successful in an area, one (or their parents) must “choose early, focus narrowly, never waver”.

Majority of the studies used in this book are from sports, chess and music.

The skills where proficiency can be achieved by long hours of practice are also those easily replaceable by AI. This argument applies to tasks with clearly defined rules. Example: chess. I find it fascinating that in freestyle chess where humans team up with computers, humans suddenly appear capable again. The author says it’s because humans are better at strategy.

Improvisation was a concept against (music) conservatory training. The legendary American pianist Leon Fleisher told his co-author of 2010 memoir that his greatest wish was to be able to improvise, but after a lifelong interpretation of notes on the page, he said, “I can’t improvise at all.” A study of Jazz musicians shows, inside a fMRI machine, “brain areas associated with focused attention, inhibition and self-censoring turned down when the musicians were creating. It’s almost as if the brain turned off its own ability to criticize itself…While improvising, musicians do pretty much the opposite of consciously identifying errors and stopping to correct them. Improv masters learn like babies: dive in and improvise first, learn the formal rules later.”

In Chapter 6: The Trouble with Too much Grit, I am not sure Van Gogh is a good example of the merits of being a generalist. Van Gogh has a family history of mental health issues. But I agree that choosing a major at a young age and sticking to it may not always be a good idea. The author examined college students who switched majors and those who didn’t. The former may experience a temporary setback but in the long run, they have better career satisfaction. I am a switcher. I can speak for this assessment.

The author argues that the ultra refined academic disciplines harm creativity and innovation, as both require broad and cross-domain knowledge.

The author does not distinguish between motor skills and mental skills.

The book lacks a clear distinction between generalists and dabblers. The latter carries a negative connotation for a reason. The difference between a generalist not a dabbler is not what have you “dabbed”, but how, i.e. your learning style. Perhaps grit is overrated, but resilience is never. Knowing yourself and when to quit is the key.

Table of Content:
Chapter 1: The Cult of the Head Start
Chapter 2: How the Wicked World Was Make
Chapter 3: When Less of the Same is More
Chapter 4: Learning, Fast and Slow
Chapter 5: Thinking Outside Experience
Chapter 6: The Trouble with Too much Grit
Chapter 7: Flirting With Your Possible Selves
Chapter 8: The Outsider Advantage
Chapter 9: Lateral Thinking with Withered technology
Chapter 10: Filled by Expertise
Chapter 11: Learning to Drop Your Familiar Tools
Chapter 12: Deliberate Amateurs
Conclusion: Expanding Your Range