Range

Well, this book engaged me the way other books often do not because I couldn't speed read it. There were too many new concepts to fill out, and Epstein gives you plenty interesting real life examples to fill out his concepts. Often I will get bored with an author because of their repetition, wordiness, over use of illustration, etc. David does use a lot of real life examples, but they were unique enough and complex enough that I couldn't just skip read. Perhaps if I was more familiar with his concepts already, I would have been able to skip read.

I've wrote a lot and haven't even touched on the book's content.

David Epstein shows how the rewarded and prominent path to "success" has been early-specialization in a field and / or specialization period. He systemically demonstrates the dangers of this. One of his examples was that people were working in parallel trenches, digging deep into their trench of speciality. And, they don't stop to look at other trenches. And yet, we live in a "wicked world" that demolishes people who have not considered complex, interconnected realities. People are trenching down in a specialty and they are missing the obvious.

No only are people not able to consider an "outsider perspective" to their specialty, but David shows that the more they specialize the more unable they are able to solve a problem. In addition, our society doesn't reward people who don't show results fast within a narrow field. Inter-disciplinary approaches to life take more time and often show up much later in life. By that point, a person feels behind everyone else, and often everyone else looks at that person as non-productive. David peels back layers of sociology and studies people's behavior patterns surrounding these realities. He takes you through case study after case study to help you think through this. Inter-Disciplinary studies are also statistically more likely to be overlooked and ignored yet with much greater long-term success.

I would have to say at this point, this is one of the more valuable books I have read. It provokes needful thought.