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This is a thoroughly enjoyable book; it appears to be the first of two books written by Matthew Syed. He is a champion table tennis player. He combines his own experience in his climb to champion status with the experiences of other champion sportsmen and celebrities, to come to some very interesting conclusions about what allows someone to excel to the top in a field. The secret, if there is one, is that circumstances arise that allow someone to start practicing and developing from a relatively...
Hmm. Judging by the high ratings, some people were surprised to hear that the harder you work at stuff, the better you get. The surprise is that this is a surprise to some people.
When I first read the title ‘Bounce’ by Matthew Syed, I was more intrigued with the name of the author than on what the book was about.Mathew Syed - a British Journalist and Broadcaster was, as it turned out was born of a British Pakistani father and a Welsh mother. To his credentials he was a Five times Men’s Single Champion at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Champion and represented Great Britain for two Olympic Games.His book Bounce thus turned out to be a book that focused on excellence in spo...
Bounce - Matthew SyedI read Syed got a million dollar advance for this, which made quite a few people wonder. Apparently he (or actually his agent Jonny Geller) pitched the book as the 'Freakonomics of Sport'. It got reworked along the way so it applies now to life in general, with the title getting dressed up rather late in the process. The title had listed Tiger Woods; he was dropped, and 'Bounce' was picked as a hook word for the title. I am kind of surprised they didn't decide to edit Tiger
Says much about me I’m sure, that I much preferred the kiddies version: you are awesome! Still a fantastic read, and this time with the science only briefly covered in the previous. As an educator, I found the first half far more interesting and relevant, whilst the second half on placebo and genetics merely ... interesting! :o)
I have to say that Bounce was a bit like taking a refresher course, having already read Geoff Covlin's Talent Is Overrated, Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code, and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, all three of which Syed acknowledges as worthy predecessors. So I didn't learn a great deal new from reading Bounce. But a refresher, with some new information added, is worthwhile, and so I found this book. (I should also note that all four books draw on the pioneering work of academic psychologist Anders Eri...
Passionate, compelling and…misleading What is the genesis of world class achievement in sports and other endeavours such as art?Observers usually nominate two variables, exemplified by the following news excerpts about the 2012 Wimbledon final:"Talent does what it can. Genius does what it must. The old Edward Bulwer-Lytton aphorism smacked Andy Murray round the head in his first Wimbledon final, his fourth in grand slam tournaments overall. Murray was as good as he could be. Federer was the mast...
Unfortunately, I really didn't like this book. Seyd tries realy hard to write a story abuot success, but it ends up being somewhere between Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Pinker - success is a combination of hard work and being fortunate with the middle ground between good nature and nurture. It's hard for me not to be biased because I've read so many of these stories that they feel like they are only rehashing the ideas of others.I don't think success is easy, but in my own life and from the stori...
Regurgitation of Colvin and Coyle--With a heavy spin on sports - unfortunately.It focuses on the topic of sports without delving deep into the fascinating topic of deliberate practice and its applications in wider areas.The first half of the book consists of direct quotes from and regurgitation of Colvin and Coyle's books and says nothing new about the alleged main subject of the book.The only difference is that the author makes a foray into the topic of sports more than his predecessors but I f...
Love this book! It goes deep into the process of mastering a skill from a perspective of a world class table tennis pro who presents a mix of personal experience and scientific research. The book will teach you what form of practice actually works and what is required to achieve elite world class levels in sports, business, music, driving and pretty much anything! Besides purposeful practice the book breaks down other aspects of success such as: having quality feedback, learning from failure, en...
Excellent read, superstars are a result of endless hours of purposeful practice. Don't take failure personally, see it as a challenge. The placebo effect is very real, use it to your advantage.
Really great audio book.For anyone interested it sports psychology it must be the mostinteresting book on the subject.
It all comes down to this: Nature VS Nurture.צפו בסיקור בוידאו! :-)In the everlasting fight between Nature and Nurture, Matthewproves that it's not GENES that determines success, no, it's whatyou DO with what you have and how strongly you wantit, that makes you a success.Matthew starts off with examples from his career as a table tennis champion.He explain that opportunities, determination, passion anda lot of time was the factor that has distinguished him from other table-tennis players, not ta...
Syed took a lot of research carried out in the field of success, especially success in sports, and compiled it into a very readable book which is all the more interesting because its author isn't a scientist, but someone who has put the science he writes about to use: He's a Table Tennis Olympian. Syed's writing style is clear and enthusiastic, and he has a lot of personal experience to brighten up the hard facts. There's a lot of eye-opening and downright useful information in the book. It's al...
A great book – should be compulsory reading all parents and teachers. It has changed the way I think about encouraging my children and work teammates – praising their efforts and hard work rather than their innate "skill". As an advisor to owner- managed businesses, I see the 10,000 hour/10 year experience rule being lived out in many ways. For example most professionals spend their 20s and early 30s mastering the technical aspects of their profession, and the next decade mastering management an...
This book redefined the way I think about talent. It breaks it down and shows how talent is derivative of countless hours of practice. In fact, with only 10,000 hours of purposeful practice you, me, or anyone can become an expert/master in whichever field they choose. Whether it's chess, archery, figure skating, or capoeira. hehe. All that practice puts the complicated processes into implicit memory. Your muscles begin to work automatically, freeing your brain to focus on expert maneuvers.The bo...
This book covers a lot of areas, same research that you'd find in other books like Outliers, Talent is Overrated, etc. but still found it a really good read. The author is an athlete (tabletop tennis Olympian), details how hard work, purposeful practice and incredible amount of time (and luck that he had a regulation tabletop in his house) contributed to his own success. He covers familiar territory discrediting the talent myth, but also goes into how the talent myth can actually impede success
In this book Mathew Syed tried to explain the practice theory of excellence with some great examples. This book contains three parts The Talent Myth, Paradoxes of the Mind and Deep Reflections. The key to supreme performance is not natural born talent but purposeful practice. He back up this theory with stories of some of the finest sports personalities like Tiger Woods, Williams Sisters, David Beckham and Polgar Sisters. He also discuss about the influence of athlete's personal belief on their
The former world class, British table tennis champions pens a fantastic book with thoughts, evidence and actual proven science data that completely debunks popular myths that talent is the key defining attribute of successful sports people and people in general; when it is actually hard work and lots and lots of hours of effective training and learning. In addition he completely debunks the racial stereotyping attributed to perceived racial dominance in sports such as sprinting and long distance...
Bounce's 286 pages can be summed up in a sentence: Forget about talent and put in the work. It's a smooth read, there are plenty of footnotes, and there were a few moments when I was absorbed. Despite this, I didn't learn much. This was similar to a long conversation with one of your smarter friends who is obsessed with sports. Unfortunately, your smart friend meanders for the last third of the conversation, suddenly stands up, and tells you he has to go without any sort of conclusion or wind do...