Peak

By Anders Ericsson, Robert Pool,

Book cover of Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

Book description

Selected as a Book of the Year by New Statesman

Mozart wasn't born with perfect pitch.

Most athletes are not born with any natural advantage.

Three world-class chess players were sisters, whose success was planned by their parents before they were even born.

Anders Ericsson has spent thirty years studying…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

2 authors picked Peak as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In this book, my friend the late Professor K Anders Ericsson, proves that innate talent is not the most important factor in achieving expertise in any field.

Instead, deliberate practice is the key to improving performance and achieving mastery. But deliberate practice is not the same as regular practice: it involves specific and focused efforts to improve skills, often with the guidance of a teacher or coach.

It requires a high level of concentration and effort and can be mentally and physically exhausting. The book provides practical advice on how to apply this concept to any field.

There are three legs to the creativity stool: craft, timing, and distribution. When I started researching creativity, I assumed that craft was heavily reliant on natural born talent. K. Anders Ericsson is the leading academic in the field of talent development. This book makes clear a surprising, but important point: natural-born talent is probably at best grossly overstated, and probably non-existent. We can learn world-class levels of talent if we have the right access to time, resources, and motivation.

Want books like Peak?

Our community of 10,000+ authors has personally recommended 58 books like Peak.

Browse books like Peak

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in execution, superheros, and heroes?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about execution, superheros, and heroes.

Execution Explore 16 books about execution
Superheros Explore 98 books about superheros
Heroes Explore 102 books about heroes