Sounds just like Paper Tiger, by Tom(?) Coyne - a Philadelphia guy quits his job and with lots of support devotes a year to improving his golf game enough to turn pro. A nice read, even for a non-golfer.
Wow I just realized that I have actually worked almost exactly 9900 hours at my current job. I wonder if it'll feel different a few weeks from now when I'm officially excellent at it.
I haven't read Paper Tiger, but Coyne wrote a second book called A Course Called Ireland, which described his time spent walking the perimeter of Ireland playing all of its links golf courses. It was as much about the Irish people as it was about golf so even someone who isn't a golfer could appreciate it. I really enjoyed it, although I was truly astonished at his wife's patience and fortitude.
I'm rooting for the guy, but the soundbite version of the Gladwell theory oversimplifies a little bit. The real studies behind it don't look at the general population and ask what differentiates superstars from it; the question is why some people out of a group of talented athletes (or other areas) become superstars. What differentiates Michael Jordan not from me, but what separates him from people he played against in high school or college who had to be good enough to make varsity and were focused on basketball.
Sounds just like Paper Tiger, by Tom(?) Coyne - a Philadelphia guy quits his job and with lots of support devotes a year to improving his golf game enough to turn pro. A nice read, even for a non-golfer.
ReplyDeleteWow I just realized that I have actually worked almost exactly 9900 hours at my current job. I wonder if it'll feel different a few weeks from now when I'm officially excellent at it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Paper Tiger, but Coyne wrote a second book called A Course Called Ireland, which described his time spent walking the perimeter of Ireland playing all of its links golf courses. It was as much about the Irish people as it was about golf so even someone who isn't a golfer could appreciate it. I really enjoyed it, although I was truly astonished at his wife's patience and fortitude.
ReplyDeleteI'm rooting for the guy, but the soundbite version of the Gladwell theory oversimplifies a little bit. The real studies behind it don't look at the general population and ask what differentiates superstars from it; the question is why some people out of a group of talented athletes (or other areas) become superstars. What differentiates Michael Jordan not from me, but what separates him from people he played against in high school or college who had to be good enough to make varsity and were focused on basketball.
ReplyDelete