Peak

Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

By: Robert Pool, Anders Ericsson

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

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.

©2016 K. Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Great book that dispels many myths

So many people have a fixed mindset that they are good at this or bad at that, and that they cannot achieve the highest level of performance in certain areas based on certain genetic limitations. The reality from the research is quite different and this book cuts through all the myths to describe what we really know about expert performance and how to achieve it. Anyone can achieve top level performance with the right focus on deliberate practice and this is a liberating fact for all of us that should have a great impact on his we teach and learn.

Intriguing and Relatable

The authors answer how people become experts using interesting, inspiring stories of legends and everyday people.

Moving to expertise

I really enjoyed this book. It touches on important topics of how to transform education. It is a book educators should read.

Great book!

Learned a lot from this book. Gives me confidence to achieve anything with deliberate practice.

great book, well worth the listen!

loved it! it will change your outlook and motivate change! listen over again and let it help your life.

life-changing!

very well read. life-changing information! should be required reading for every parent, teacher, and coach.

Fantastic and Fascinating! And finally, hope.

This book is one of my favorite things I've found on Audible. It was a little thick at first to get into, which was really helped a lot by the amazing narrator. His delivery makes the comments transparent to a non-scientific reader. I love the concepts expressed in this book, and overall was left with a feeling that, finally, somebody has an answer to the problems plaguing our technological society. By that I mean, the germ of an idea for meaningful educational progress, and meaningful personal progress, in the world we live in today. I highly recommend this read.

A foundational book to skill improvement and learning

Many people think we are either good or bad at something, but Peak removes the wonder of how the truly great got that way. In the process of learning deliberate practice you receive the message that you can get better and that natural talent only gets a person so far. I would encourage every teacher, coach, pastor, salesperson, and especially parents to listen or read this book.

Loved it!

Actual advice on how to improve your performance with descriptive scenarios. Anders Erricsom explains the importance of mental representations and delibirate practice. And how to apply it to your passion.

A must for anyone who wants to improve

This book is a mandatory tool for anyone who wants to improve themselves or someone else. The concepts that you learn in this book are new and effective. But most of all they are understandable.
The audio version was also easy to listen to and follow. I'll be listening to it again soon.