The only difference is that the author makes a foray into the topic of sports more than his predecessors but I found it to be interesting but impractical. For example most professionals spend their 20s and early 30s mastering the technical aspects of their profession, and the next decade mastering management and business skills so that by the mid to late 40s they are at the height of their powers.

The essential problem regarding the attainment of excellence is that expert knowledge simply cannot be taught in the classroom over the course of a rainy afternoon, or indeed a thousand rainy afternoons”. Compelling and, at times, exhilarating - Bounce explains high achievement in sport, business and beyond. Matthew Syed expounds on principles that have been repeated in earlier works like The Talent Code and Outliers. Kenyan and Ethiopian runners come almost exclusively from 2 small areas that are insanely high altitude and where the kids have to run to school every day. Or, phrased alternatively: those innate qualities that separate elite combatants when the level of practice is roughly equal.The fixed mindset is damaging because evidence shows that people often associate challenges and difficulties as meaning they lack talent. Although we tend to think of genius as something akin to magic, a kind of short-cut to mastery of the elements, it is nothing of the sort.

Just give it the same amount of time and intensity and the right sort of 'productive practice', all things Syed talks about in this book. He has written six bestselling books on the subject of mindset and high performance – Rebel Ideas, Bounce, Black Box Thinking, The Greatest, and his celebrated children’s books, You Are Awesome and The You Are Awesome Journal – and has worked with many leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. Excellence is about striving for what is just out of reach and not quite making it; it is about grappling with tasks beyond current limitations and falling short again and again”.This is covered in Bounce and in Black Box Thinking, and we have now run dozens of conferences with teachers and coaches on precisely this terrain. Intellectually stimulating and hugely enjoyable at a stroke … challenged some of my most cherished beliefs about life and success.

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. Nice quick read, cites Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell quite a bit in the early chapters and referenced many concepts I learned about in my first year psych class.

Along the way Matthew talks to a Hungarian father whose educational theories saw his daughters become three of the best chess players of all time, meets a female East German athlete who became a man, and explains why one small street in Reading – his own – has produced more top table-tennis players than the rest of Britain put together. Seyd does go into some topics that his predecessors didn't, such as placebo effect--in other words--the power of belief. For instance one chapter examines the myth of 'race' versus the scientific proof of the non-existance of race. He narrated some stories about a few superstitious athletes, it sounds funny but it is true that it actually boost their confidence to increase their level of performance.

Simple as and, yet, it still is baffling to see how many still believe in 'talent' or 'genius' that is, inner and innate capabilities that one either has or doesn't! Purposeful practice is about striving for what is just out of reach and not quite making it; it is about grappling with tasks beyond current limitations and falling short again and again”. Because of their superior circumstances, our heros developed a lifetime of habits which beget success in a particular discipline. What is the magic spark that sees David Beckham and Tiger Woods soar above all their competitors, and could the secret lie in the practice regime of Mozart?

The small few vying for glory, the stars we cheer on Centre Court, represent the shattered dreams of thousands.