This book and its predecessor (The Talent Code) were recommended to me by one of my art teachers. The first book explores the idea of "how do you get good at something"? Coyle looks at the circumstances that makes people excel at a skill, and it's not necessarily where you'd think: the run-down Russian tennis club that has produces multiple tennis stars, the North Baltimore Aquatic Club that Michael Phelps (as well as several other Olympic medalists) trained at, and so on. It turns out you don't need state-of-the-art equipment or the highest tech to make a champion -- usually the opposite, in fact. What you do need is a relentless focusing on the basics as well as constant practice and review.
While The Talent Code was an overview of these ideas, The Little Book of Talent discusses more practical applications of these ideas. There are bite-sized chapters encapsulating the ideas like:
- Spend fifteen minutes a day engraving the skill on your brain
- Choose five minutes a day over an hour a week
- Don't fall for the prodigy myth
Be willing to be stupid
He uses some great examples to back up his points (tip #21: Think in images). It's a really short book, about 125 pages, with space for notes (tip #4: Buy a notebook) in the back. I find it a really motivating book and one that I'll be referring to quite a bit in the future.
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