Books like Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

01

Ultralearning

Scott Young · Self-help

Ultralearning is Scott Young's synthesis of principles drawn from his own extreme learning projects — completing MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in one year, learning four languages in a year, and other aggressive self-directed learning experiments — and from the academic research on skill acquisition and deliberate practice.

Shares deliberate practice and mastery with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

02

The Talent Code

Daniel Coyle · Science

The Talent Code is Daniel Coyle's investigation into why certain places — a tennis academy in Russia, a soccer training ground in Brazil, a music conservatory in Texas — produce a disproportionate number of world-class performers.

Shares deliberate practice and skill acquisition with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

03

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela Duckworth · Psychology

Duckworth's central claim is that talent is overrated.

Both dig into deliberate practice.

04

Mastery

Robert Greene · Self-help

Mastery is Robert Greene's long account of how extraordinary human mastery develops — from childhood inclinations through apprenticeship through creative independence to the integration that characterizes true mastery.

Shares mastery and learning with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

05

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology

Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that exceptional success is less a product of individual genius or drive than it is of hidden advantages, timing, and accumulated opportunity.

A kindred science read.

06

The First 20 Hours

Josh Kaufman · Self-help

The First 20 Hours makes a sharp distinction that most books on learning quietly ignore: the difference between becoming competent at a skill and becoming world-class at one.

Shares deliberate practice and skill acquisition with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

07

Make It Stick

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel · Science

Make It Stick is a book about how memory actually works, and why the study techniques most people rely on — re-reading, highlighting, massed practice — are among the least effective ways to learn.

Shares skill acquisition and learning with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

08

Moonwalking with Einstein

Joshua Foer · Science

Moonwalking with Einstein is Joshua Foer's account of spending a year training for and winning the United States Memory Championship, beginning as a journalist covering the event and ending as its champion.

Shares expertise and learning with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

09

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

David Epstein · Science

Range is David Epstein's argument against the ten-thousand-hours gospel.

Shares expertise and learning with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

10

So Good They Can't Ignore You

Cal Newport · Self-help

So Good They Can't Ignore You is Newport's direct challenge to "follow your passion" as career advice.

Shares deliberate practice and mastery with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

11

The Art of Learning

Josh Waitzkin · Self-help

The Art of Learning is Josh Waitzkin's account of how he became a national chess champion as a child and later a world-champion martial artist, and what those two very different disciplines taught him about the structure of high performance.

Shares mastery and learning with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

12

The Little Book of Talent

Daniel Coyle · Self-help

The Little Book of Talent is Daniel Coyle's condensed follow-up to The Talent Code, distilling his observations of high-performance training environments into 52 concrete tips.

Shares deliberate practice and skill acquisition with Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.