Review: The Price is Great, the Writing - Not So Much!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2013
Author Patrick begins by telling us that the relation between IQ and success follows the law of diminishing returns. Increasingly important, given a base level of ability, is the intensity of the individual's effort. Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson encapsulated this into the "10,000 hour" rule - mastery takes around 10,000 hours of focused, intentional practice. That's about four hours/day, seven days/week, for seven years. (Actually, his theory also asserts that talent is irrelevant - an idiotic overextension of what may be a partial truth.Malcomb Gladwell seized upon this theory and rode it to best-seller status in his 'Outliers.' One example provided - those born just after a birthdate cutoff for participating in sports or entering school. Gladwell dwells on the extra year of practice this allows those youngsters; true, but there's also the matter of the extra year of mental and physical growth. And talent doesn't matter?Unfortunately, reading this first chapter is a waste of one's time, and a prelude of what's to come. The essence of this book is to use bits of Tesla's life to justify various theories of human exceptionalism, and is not worth reading. I'd suggest 'Tesla' by Carlson, instead.