A review by mnstucki
The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Everything Else by Daniel Coyle

4.0

A great look at how skills of all types are built. The beginning seemed to repeat itself and drag a bit, but I think that was mostly because I was already somewhat familiar with the process and purposes of myelination. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the second half of the book and how much there was that I really had to mentally digest. I decided to listen to it because I'm going through a sort of quarter-life-crisis right now because the last year of work has not been kind to me and I'm wondering if I should have chosen a different field, or what other talents I might have and how I could turn them into a career. The information about being a master coach was really interesting and I reflected on its relevance to my job as a teacher and why I chose the field in the first place.
Some of the stories used as examples are a bit outdated now--my husband listened to the last hour and a half of the book with me and pointed out that the story about Jamarcus Russell is not completely relevant/helpful to the point the author is trying to make because of how things ended up turning out with his NFL career.
The book definitely gets better as it goes and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to better understand the mechanics of skill/talent.