David Epstein on Mastery, Specialization, and Range

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2019

⏱️ 102 minutes

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Summary

Journalist and author David Epstein talks about his book Range with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Epstein explores the costs of specialization and the value of breadth in helping to create mastery in our careers and in life. What are the best backgrounds for solving problems? Can mastery be achieved without specialization at a young age? What experiences and knowledge best prepare people to cope with unexpected situations? This is a wide-ranging conversation that includes discussion of chess, the Challenger tragedy, sports, farming in obscure Soviet provinces after the revolution, the Flynn effect and why firefighters sometimes fail to outrun forest fires.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Before you mail address ismailadycontalk.org.
0:29.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	Today is May 1st, 2019.
0:35.0	I'm a guest, his author and journalist, David Epstein.
0:38.7	He is a former reporter for ProPublica and Sports Illustrated.
0:43.2	He first appeared here at Econ Talk in September of 2013, talking about his book, The Sports
0:48.8	Gene.
0:49.8	His latest book in the topic of today's conversation is Range.
0:54.1	Why Generalist Triumph in a specialized world, David?
0:58.5	Welcome back to Econ Talk.
1:00.4	Thank you for having me again.
1:02.4	Your book opens with a little fable of, you could call it Tiger versus Roger.
1:07.7	What's that fable about?
1:09.2	Yeah, what I call the Roger versus Tiger Problems.
1:12.7	Basically, Tiger Woods, I think, is the epitome of early specialization and sort of his
1:19.6	story where he started, he was able to walk very early at about six months old.
	...

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