Book Review: Range – How Generalists triumph in a Specialized World
“And he refused to specialize in anything, preferring to keep an eye on the overall estate rather than any of its parts....” -Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
“And he refused to specialize in anything, preferring to keep an eye on the overall estate rather than any of its parts. . . . And Nikolay’s management produced the most brilliant results.”
- Leo Tolstoy , War and Peace
We live in a world of specialists—or so we think. The prevailing wisdom has been to double-down in a narrow specialty, and we’ve all heard it from a teacher, parent, professor, or mentor. Specialty is supposed to provide a competitive edge or make it harder to replace someone. Yet, these benefits don’t always materialize.
Arguing against the idea that narrow specialization leads to success, journalist David Epstein mounts convincing evidence that generalists bring more skill, creativity, and innovation to work in all fields. The author begins by contrasting the career trajectories of Tiger Woods, who began training as a golfer before he was 1, and Roger Federer, who dabbled in a range of sports before, as a teenager, he “began to gravitate more toward tennis.”
Although he started later than players who had worked with coaches, sports psychologists, and nutritionists from early childhood, a late start did not impede his development. His story, Epstein discovered, is common. What psychologists have found is there is a sampling period followed only later by focus and increased structure in successful individuals. ‘Hyperspecialization’ is not a requisite for achievement and Epstein offers abundant anecdotes from music, arts, business, science, technology, and sports.
Drawing on studies by cognitive psychologists and educators, Epstein examines how knowledge develops and, equally important, how it is assessed. He distinguishes between teaching strategies that emphasize repeated practice, leading to “excellent immediate performance” on tests, and “interleaving,” an approach that develops inductive reasoning, in which students “learn to create abstract generalizations that allow them to apply what they learned to material they have never encountered before.”
Being fans of football, there’s no way we can let go of the chance to discuss an analogy to the sport. For over two decades now, a practice started by Arsene Wenger, wherein he played young strikers on the wings once they were drafted on the senior team so they would understand where they needed to be in a positional sense when they played upfront; this practice has produced some of the best strikers over the last couple of decades from Henry to Ronaldo and many more.
Towards the end, Epstein offers up Charles Darwin as the ultimate example of someone whose breadth made it possible for him to remain open-minded and innovative. Before Darwin got aboard the HMS Beagle and sailed to the Galapagos, he had trained not only in natural history but also medicine, theology, philosophy, and geology. This cross-training helped him build the intellectual muscles he would need to overturn centuries of dogma. Only criticism of Range is that you could come away with the impression that Epstein, a generalist himself, is too critical of specialists