expertise

"In The Real Work--the term magicians use for the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick--Gopnik becomes a dedicated student of several masters of their craft: a classical painter, a boxer, a dancing instructor, a driving instructor, and others. Rejecting self-help bromides and bullet points, he nevertheless shows that the top people in any field share a set of common qualities and methods. For one, their mastery is always a process of breaking down and building up--of identifying and perfecting the small constituent parts of a skill and the combining them for an overall effect greater than the sum of those parts. For another, mastery almost always involves intentional imperfection--as in music, where vibrato, a way of not quite landing on the right note, carries maximum expressiveness"--Provided by publisher.

Reflects on the ways in which people acquire new abilities, offering a convincing view of the concept of potential.

"[The author argues that] the information age has helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues . . . [Moreover, he asserts that] all voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism . . . [This book] is not only an exploration of [what the author argues is] a dangerous phenomenon but also a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the information age"--Provided by publisher.

"[The author argues that] the information age has helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues ...[Moreover, he asserts that] all voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism ... [This book] is not only an exploration of [what the author argues is] a dangerous phenomenon but also a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the information age"--Provided by publisher.

Reflects on the ways in which people acquire new abilities, offering a convincing view of the concept of potential.

Looks at creativity and mastery in the arts, science, and business, as well as the sometimes surprising ways that they are achieved through serendipity, failure, simple determination, and hard work.

Based on a survey of thousands of giften teens around the work, this work is filled with stories, insights, honesty, and humor.

Teenagers share their thoughts about being gifted, discussing friends and peers, expectations, school, home life, future plans, and other related topics.