Below, you can hear journalist David Epstein talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. In it, “he argues that the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists are more likely to be dabblers, rather than people who set out to do what they do best from a young age — and, in fact, the people who have highly specialized training from an early age tend to have lower lifetime earnings overall.” The #1 New York Times bestselling book makes the case that “in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.”
You can pick up a copy of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World in print, or get it as a free audio book if you sign up for a 30-day free trial with Audible.com.
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Fantastic material here; I loved the book. I do wish, in the interview, that the interviewer would have allowed Epstein to finish a sentence or thought before speaking again.