The Talent Code: Greatness isn't born. It's grown

I'd recommend you read this in parallel to learning a new skill. It will allow you to try to think and behave in your learning journey in the manner the book is presenting and just realize the progress as you go.

This book knocks it out of the park. In more ways than one. The concepts that the author discusses here can be used for literally any new skill you are trying to learn. Fantastic read and easy to understand language make this book engaging with actionable suggestions.

Great insight backed up with science and real life examples

The Talent Code is What makes talent? Is born or made? The theory behind this book is that talent is made. The way this is done is by "deep practice". Deep practice isn't just about practicing something over and over again--it is about practicing in a certain system of doing, messing up, and doing over again until you get it right. What I love about this theory is that to be talented you must fail and learn from the failure. It explains why we see bursts of talented people, Russian tennis players, Brazilian football players, Italian artists, and others. It is based on a simple but powerful idea once you truly understand it.

I'll say it right away: Dan Coyle's book did much to inspire my quest to "crack the code" of writing. In fact, I named my own book and learning system The Writing Code: The Only Comprehensive Guide To Writing Well in All Fields (The Writing Code Series). My Coyle-inspired quest transformed my approach to writing -- and to teaching writing to people of all ages and backgrounds.Years ago, when Dan Coyle started work on "The Talent Code," he called me looking for contacts with the baseball world of Curacao. I had just written Little League, Big Dreams, which featured the Curacao team in the Little League World Series. He told me he was trying to figure out the secret of talent "hot spots," and he was intrigued that such a tiny country could produce such talent. I didn;t really know what he was trying to do, but I was happy to help.When "The Talent Code" came out, it was just the book I was looking for. I had started teaching writing at Yale and SUNY-Purchase and I was working on a book about the 1963 March on Washington (Nobody Turn Me Around: A People's History of the 1963 March on Washington was published in 2010). I had embarked on my own quest to bring my own writing to a higher level and to help my students transform their writing. I read everything I could about learning and the brain. And I started to develop a number of simple tricks to help students to write better and faster.Then Dan Coyle's book came out. I was blown away by his clear, lucid description of "deep practice" and "myelenation." These concepts supplied the missing elements of my own quest. The idea, in a nutshell, is this: We learn better when we break complex skills into their smallest parts, and then focus intensely on those pieces. As Coyle says, the old saying that "practice makes perfect" is not completely right. In truth, practicing the right way, with with total concentration -- and repeating simple actions, again and again -- is what makes the difference. So to master a skill like writing, we need to break it down, isolate each simple skill, and make each one interesting and usable. And we need to figure out a way to "burn" the skills into the brain.I brought that insight into my teaching and writing. What a difference it makes! Following the approach that Dan Coyle explains in this masterpiece, I found it much easier to apply -- and teach -- all of the essential skills of writing. With this system, almost anyone can master all the basic skills of writing in a fraction of the time you spend in school. And, as Dan Coyle suggests, it's fun. Because when you make progress, when you gain real mastery, you develop confidence and a desire to practice what you've learned.I hope this doesn't sound like a commercial. I just want to say how grateful I am for this book -- not just for me and my students, but for anyone who cares about learning. It's hard to imagine a more important book for education and the changing economy that depends so much on creativity.

Well written, and boasting many insights for my practice as a musician.