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Peak

Anders Ericsson, Robert Pool, Sean Runnette · 4 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Peak" by Anders Ericsson, Robert Pool, Sean Runnette.
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Amazon Summary
From the world's reigning expert on expertise comes a powerful new approach to mastering almost any skill. Have you ever wanted to learn a language or pick up an instrument, only to become too daunted by the task at hand? Expert performance guru Anders Ericsson has made a career of studying chess champions, violin virtuosos, star athletes, and memory mavens. Peak condenses three decades of original research to introduce an incredibly powerful approach to learning that is fundamentally different from the way people traditionally think about acquiring a skill. Ericsson's findings have been lauded and debated but never properly explained. So the idea of expertise still intimidates us - we believe we need innate talent to excel or think excelling seems prohibitively difficult. Peak belies both of these notions, proving that almost all of us have the seeds of excellence within us - it's just a question of nurturing them by reducing expertise to a discrete series of attainable practices. Peak offers invaluable, often counterintuitive advice on setting goals, getting feedback, identifying patterns, and motivating yourself. Whether you want to stand out at work or help your kid achieve academic goals, Ericsson's revolutionary methods will show you how to master nearly anything.
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

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There are two interpretations of this, one of which is irrelevant to IQ and psychometrics and the other of which has no evidence despite several people spending most of their career looking for it.

Math, music, chess, story telling and social intelligence are all skills, all of which can be improved from a low base. In all of them higher g will be helpful because there’s very little where higher g isn’t helpful. If you want to learn about the science of skill building it’s better known as the study of expertise. K. Anders Ericsson founder the field. He wrote a popular book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp...

If you want the academic treatment there’s a Cambridge Handbook of Expeetise and Expert Performance.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cambridge-Expertise-Performance-Han...

If you want to read about how multiple intelligence theory á la Gardner has no empirical support start here.

http://www.faculty.mun.ca/cmattatall/Multiple_Intelligences_...

> Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Review

> This article reviews evidence for multiple intelligences theory, the Mozart effect theory, and emotional intelligence theory and argues that despite their wide currency in education these theories lack adequate empirical support and should not be the basis for educational practice. Each theory is compared to theory counterparts in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuro- science that have better empirical support. The article considers possible reasons for the appeal of these 3 theories and concludes with a brief rationale for examining theories of cognition in the light of cognitive neuroscience research findings.

If you want attempts at something that kind of looks like multiple intelligence from people who actually know psychometrics look up the work of Robert J. Sternberg. Criticism below

http://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/2003dissectin...

> Dissecting practical intelligence theory: Its claims and evidence

> Sternberg et al. [Sternberg, R. J., Forsythe, G. B., Hedlund, J., Horvath, J. A., Wagner, R. K., Williams, W. M., Snook, S. A., Grigorenko, E. L. (2000). Practical intelligence in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press] review the theoretical and empirical supports for their bold claim that there exists a general factor of practical intelligence that is distinct from ‘‘academic intelligence’’ ( g) and which predicts future success as well as g, if not better. The evidence collapses, however, upon close examination. Their two key theoretical propositions are made plausible only by ignoring the considerable evidence contradicting them. Their six key empirical claims rest primarily on the illusion of evidence, which is enhanced by the selective reporting of results. Their small set of usually poorly documented studies on the correlates of tacit knowledge (the ‘‘important aspect of practical intel- ligence’’) in five occupations cannot, whatever the results, do what the work is said to have done— dethroned g as the only highly general mental ability or intelligence.

If you enjoyed Outliers (or are thinking about reading it), I'd suggest reading Peak (in addition to, but also instead of).

https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp...

jfaucett
thanks for the tip!
I'd suggest learning more about how to learn better, so that you can learn more on the job. Then you can spend your weekend doing something other than coding. Some useful books:

"How Learning Works" (I review it here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/03/19/how-learning-works/)

"Peak" https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp...

Gar Klein's books, in particular "The Power of Intuition" https://www.amazon.com/Power-Intuition-Feelings-Better-Decis...

Meph504
You should read a book or two on not be condescending, some people enjoy learning outside the workplace, or want to learn things that aren't related to their work.
itamarst
Learning how to learn better will help with all of those! I read all three books in last 3 years and I found them quite useful personally (learning on the job and off the job).
"It seems to me that passion and a lack of intelligence seem strongly correlated"

This is actually categorically false, see the book Peak by Anders Ericsson for more information on this: https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp...

people who are passionate are MUCH more intelligent and knowledgeable about issues and it's been proven.

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