Sunday, November 16, 2008

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian: "The curious thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any 'naturals' - musicians who could float effortlessly to the top while practising a fraction of the time that their peers did. Nor could they find 'grinds', people who worked harder than everyone else and yet just didn't have what it takes to break into the top ranks. Their research suggested that once you have enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. What's more, the people at the very top don't just work much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder."