Malcolm Gladwell on Genius and Mastery

Malcolm Gladwell is a terrific scientist in the guise of being a writer. Of course, he has had international success as a writer but he looks at situations from the perspective of a curious scientist. In what will be another best selling success, Malcolm Gladwell looks at genius and mastery - and examines fascinating contributing variables:

“…”In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, “this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years… No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”"

link: A gift or hard graft?

It is a fascinating analysis. Stephen King, the author, may fall into Malcolm Gladwell’s paradigm of practice. In his book, “On Writing”, Stephen King advocates just writing to be good at the craft. He practiced and practiced.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s examination of the subject, Malcolm Gladwell included people like the Beatles, Bill Gates and hockey players. All these people had the opportunity to practice and prepare for success. It would be interesting to have Malcolm Gladwell move his focus and examine Allen Iverson. Perhaps Allen Iverson practices more than he will admit.

Catherine Forsythe