How Do They Get So Good?

Review of: "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin

Geoff Colvin deals with a fascinating and worthwhile subject: How do extraordinary, world-class performers get to be so good? This is an outstanding book!

The basic argument of the book is that high level skill is achieved primarily through tons and tons of hard work over a long period of time. (In other words, I’ll have to write a lot more book reviews in order to start getting more people to find my reviews “helpful”.) So, rather than innate skill or some kind of mysterious “giftedness” being the cause of exceptional performance, Colvin writes, “[t]he factor that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice.” The concept of “deliberate practice”—which is a little bit more rigorous and demanding than what might be thought of as “practice” in the more general sense—is explained with some detail in the book.

In addition to disputing the idea of some kind of special giftedness, Colvin disputes the idea of high IQ or special innate ability for memory as explanations for superior ability and achievement. In fact, his chapter that deals with the development of memory, among those who require it in their field of endeavor, was very enlightening.

“Talent Is Overrated” deals with the study of peak performance in a broad range of fields of including the arts, science, business, chess, music, writing and sports and provides interesting stories and examples of the world class achievers in the various disciplines. This is helpful because it is interesting to see that the principles of great performance apply—at least in a basic sense—in a pretty general way to all fields of endeavor.

Leaders will be interested to note that Colvin explains the application of some of the key concepts of exceptional performance to organizations rather than just looking at the matter as it applies to individuals.

Because the bottom line of great performance is identified as years of “deliberate practice”, Colvin states that the “deepest question about great performance” is this: “Where Does The Passion Come From?” It’s a fantastic question and I’m glad that he dealt with the issue. Why do the world class performers submit to the long, exhausting, difficult, often painful work that is required to achieve their level of mastery? Is the motivation intrinsic or extrinsic, or a little of both? That is the subject of the last chapter of the book.

I find the message of “Talent Is Overrated” to be extremely encouraging and motivating because it convincingly reports that you do not have to blessed at birth in some super-human way in order to develop exceptional skill in your field—I’m already out of luck if that’s the case. This means high-level performance is possible—with a lot of hard work—even for us mere mortals.

Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL

Nothing We Desire Can Compare With Wisdom, Proverbs 8

Review of: "Loving Wisdom" by Paul Copan.

Loving Wisdom provides solid and interesting theology, apologetics and philosophy.

The whole book is good, but I found three of the four chapters in Part III to be particularly interesting: The Problem(s) of Evil; The Hiddenness of God; and Hell.

In chapter 12, The Problem(s) of Evil, Copan has a section dealing with “Principalities and Powers”. I don’t recall seeing much reference to the effects of “principalities and powers” in other apologetic treatments of the problem of evil. It was a helpful perspective.

Chapter 13, dealt with “The Hiddenness of God” providing some probing thoughts on the matter. For example, to those who complain that God does reveal himself clearly enough, Copan suggests that perhaps, “the more evidence one has of God, the more resentful one might become toward him.” Copan quotes atheist Thomas Nagel who confesses that “he doesn’t want there to be a God.” I’ve read similar expressions from other atheists. For a person who feels this way, to have more revealing evidence from God of His existence probably would not be helpful or desired.

Chapter 15, “Hell”, was also interesting. One of the more fascinating ideas that Copan suggests is that in hell resistance to God is likely to increase rather than decrease. Says Copan, “despite hell’s miseries, the condemned wouldn’t prefer God’s presence; resistance continues in hell. The more they would be exposed to God, the more they would come to hate him.” In other words, it’s not likely that those in hell will be saying, “Hey, I’ve changed my mind, God, I love you! I’m ready for heaven now! Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound . . . !” He refers to the rich man suffering in Hades (Luke 16) pointing out that he “doesn’t necessarily prefer a God-centered existence; he just wants relief.”

I’ve also noticed that having read “Loving Wisdom” I feel much wiser. It’s almost as if I’ve had a Solomonic wisdom injection. You can probably tell just from reading this book review, huh? It’s clear that those who know me can sense a difference, they’ve started calling me, “Mr.-Know-It-All”.

That’s a good sign, right?

Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL

Is Christianity Good For the World?

Review of: "Is Christianity Good For the World?" by Douglas Wilson and Christopher Hitchens


“I wish you guys would continue debating a little bit longer.”

That’s what I told Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson a couple of days ago. Neither one responded to me, which is reasonable since I was sitting in a room by myself. I had just finished reading “Is Christianity Good For The World”, which is a debate between Hitchens and Wilson that originally appeared in “Christianity Today”, a Christian magazine.

“Is Christianity Good For The World” is a short book, 67 pages, it was too short for me, I wish it would have been longer. But, again, no one’s listening to me.

I liked the topic, the value Christianity has or, from Hitchens’ perspective, doesn’t have in the world. Since Christianity is the largest and, arguably, most influential religion in the world, with adherents numbering in the billions, the topic is worthwhile.

I thought the debate format was an interesting treatment of the subject.

And the two debaters were excellent. On the anti-Christian side is writer, journalist, atheist, irascible public intellectual, the-always-interesting, Christopher Hitchens.

Defending the Christian position is pastor and really smart guy, Douglas Wilson. (My apologies to Wilson. I ran out of fun, descriptive words like “irascible” in my introduction of Hitchens.)

Both Wilson and Hitchens are witty, intelligent, well read, and capable intellectual defenders of their beliefs.

I admit that I’m biased, but I felt that Wilson made the stronger argument. When I refer to the “stronger argument”, it’s not just that I felt Wilson won the debate, but that his arguments were more convincing. And, interestingly, Wilson made some strong points that went unanswered by Hitchens.

Part of what makes Wilson’s success in the debate commendable is the fact that Hitchens is such a clever and witty writer that sometimes I suspect he wins support for his position just because he’s so entertaining.

A good, quick, fun, interesting book.

Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL