The Talent Code

I really enjoyed this. It's an examination of how skills are learned, and it happens through a combination of talking to coaches at world-class talent hotbeds, and through an examination of our new understanding of how myelin works. The author provides a simple formula to create talent: "deep practice", which is focused, passionate practice at the limits of your ability, combined with "ignition", that is, a believable, crystal clear vision of what you can become if you try, combined with "master coaching." It is really hard to argue with, and is a great book to read alongside "Outliers." It was full of great stories, too. It's made me understand that my method of learning and practicing harmonica is a good one, and how to make it better. It's also got me returning to learning Latin, and justifies the Dowling method, which I'm using now. It even validates some of my teaching methods, and gave me ideas about how to improve them. All around, a good and useful book.