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A review by dunguyen
The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Everything Else by John Farrell, Daniel Coyle
2.0
The Talent Code is another one of the inborn talent vs anyone can become talented in anything (with caveats) books that have become so popular lately. And if I hadn't read so many books on this specific topic, I probably would have liked this book more but I just wasn't very impressed.
Coyle examines the three parts to talent and how anyone can become talented. The first one is deep practice, ignition (sparking an interest) and then teaching/coaching.
While deep practice which is actually Anders Ericsson's Deliberate Practice with a different name is backed by plenty of studies, the two others are mostly based on anecdotes. This annoyed me a lot, the one concept that is well researched is essentially just Coyle rebranding someone else's term and research. The two other concepts, I can only attest that they probably have an effect somehow or are somewhat correlated as I've read many other books that were better researched on those two. In The Talent Code, these were just a bunch of anecdotes and some mentions of Carol Dweck's Mindset research.
Then there's the weird cramming in myelin into every explanation. Myelin is a fatty substance that coats the neurons and helps our brain circuits fire more efficiently. And recent studies show correlation between myelin and proficiency, i.e. more myelin in the part of the brain that shows usage for a skill is correlated with higher skill. And using this actual science, it feels like Coyle is trying to connect and somehow legitimize some of the more vague and less researched parts. I did learn something new here with myelin, but I felt it was a bit sought after whenever it was mentioned again in various places.
This was an alright book and if this is the first book on talent, growth mindset, deliberate practice etc. it's pretty decent. But I'd recommend Peak by Anders Ericsson and Mindset by Carol Dweck or Grit by Angela Duckworth instead.
Coyle examines the three parts to talent and how anyone can become talented. The first one is deep practice, ignition (sparking an interest) and then teaching/coaching.
While deep practice which is actually Anders Ericsson's Deliberate Practice with a different name is backed by plenty of studies, the two others are mostly based on anecdotes. This annoyed me a lot, the one concept that is well researched is essentially just Coyle rebranding someone else's term and research. The two other concepts, I can only attest that they probably have an effect somehow or are somewhat correlated as I've read many other books that were better researched on those two. In The Talent Code, these were just a bunch of anecdotes and some mentions of Carol Dweck's Mindset research.
Then there's the weird cramming in myelin into every explanation. Myelin is a fatty substance that coats the neurons and helps our brain circuits fire more efficiently. And recent studies show correlation between myelin and proficiency, i.e. more myelin in the part of the brain that shows usage for a skill is correlated with higher skill. And using this actual science, it feels like Coyle is trying to connect and somehow legitimize some of the more vague and less researched parts. I did learn something new here with myelin, but I felt it was a bit sought after whenever it was mentioned again in various places.
This was an alright book and if this is the first book on talent, growth mindset, deliberate practice etc. it's pretty decent. But I'd recommend Peak by Anders Ericsson and Mindset by Carol Dweck or Grit by Angela Duckworth instead.