Review: Range by David Epstein

This book pushes back against the idea that hyper specialization and 10,000 hours of deliberate practice at one discipline are the keys to success in the modern world. Instead, it argues that such specialization only works in certain, “kind” disciplines (more on that below), such as sports. For the vast majority of what we do in the modern world, what you really need for success is “range”—that is, a wide variety of knowledge and interests.

Personally, I’m a generalist, jack-of-all-trades type of person, so in my own, highly biased way, I largely buy the premise. Moreover, the book dives into a lot of interesting corners and ideas that make for interesting reading. Unfortunately, this same property occasionally leads the book a bit too far down a tangent, so it can feel a bit disorganized and random at times. Overall, an interesting read that helped pushed my understanding of human performance beyond the overly simplified narratives you find in books like “Talent is Overrated” and “Outliers.”

Here are my key takeaways from this book:

1. The difference between “kind” and “wicked” learning environments. Kind environments are where you get to practice in scenarios that closely match the real world, and get fast, clear, accurate feedback on your performance. Wicked environments are where there’s a big mismatch between practice and the real world, and feedback is slow and inaccurate (or sometimes so misleading as to reinforce the wrong behavior). For example, a sport like golf is typically a kind environment, because you can practice in a way that very closely matches the real game, and each shot provides immediate, clear feedback on how you’re performing. On the other hand, entrepreneurship only offers wicked learning environments, as the learning tools available, such as reading business books or case studies, is a very long way from the real practice of actually building a business, and the feedback loop is slow (e.g., you may not see results of your decisions for years) and inaccurate (e.g., you sometimes succeed in spite of a decision you made). Focus and deliberate practice work extremely well in kind learning environments, but are not nearly as effective in wicked learning environments, where instead, a range of skills is necessary to succeed. In real life, kind learning environments are rare; most things you’ll want to succeed at involve wicked learning environments.

2. Your personality is constantly changing throughout life, especially in your teens and early twenties. Personality is also context dependent. Someone introverted in one group of people isn’t introverted in another group; someone nervous at doctor’s office is calm and collected when climbing a mountain. We change from time to time and situation to situation. Moreover, this isn’t something you can plan or anticipate. If I asked you how different you’d be 10 years from now, you’d probably reply that your personality won’t change much; but if I ask you how different you were 10 years ago, you’ll probably give a very different answer. The reality is that, “we find out who we are by living, not planning.” Success in life is found by “test and learn” and not “plan and implement.”

3. Because personality changes so much throughout life, specializing too early rarely leads to success. The odds that you happen to pick the perfect specialization for yourself when you’re in high school or even college are low—you’re essentially trying to pick a job for a person that doesn’t exist yet. If you specialize early (get a “head start”), you might end up with a higher level of skills (e.g., due to more time on deliberate practice), but the match quality will be poor (“college students get narrow vocational training for a job most of them will never have”), so you’ll change careers, and end up in a field where you skill level is far behind. Therefore, you should treat college and early jobs like dating: marrying your high school sweetheart is probably not the best option, so try a bunch of different options (job hopping and quitting are OK!) and get a broad, cross-disciplinary education along the way.

4. Many important scientific discoveries are the result of curiosity and accident, and not an intentional plan. Therefore, research proposals having to show their “value to society” is a deeply flawed idea. Moreover, some of the most important research these days is at the intersection of specialties, but in peer reviewed journals, there are no experts who can provide a review across specialties. As a result, research papers that have novel combinations of citations (from different specialties) are less likely to be funded, less likely to pass peer review, and are more likely to be ignored shortly after publication—however, in the long term, these novel works usually end up being more cited and having a bigger impact than less novel combos.

Rating: 4 stars