Outrageous success - genius or hard work ? Malcolm Gladwell analyses.
guardian.co.uk
An extract from Malcolm Gladwell's forthcoming new book, "Outliers: The Story Of Success". Looks at Bill Gates, Mozart, Rockefeller and the Beatles.
guardian.co.uk
It's a beautifully written memoir in which he tells the story of how he became one of the most successful stand-up comedians ever. I'm not much of a reader, but for what it's worth, it's probably the best thing I've read this year. And, yes, it reinforces the idea that "genius" is often the result of years of hard work and trial and error.
gladwell definition of genius: exceedingly rare brain abnormality that confers drive to devote 10,000 hours to a random task.
forgive me if i don't feel inspired by this paradigm shift.
So just to explain it more clearly, it is the environmental circumstances which make a genius and not his genes.
Can you do 10,000 hours in 25 years, though? You may still not be as recognized as Gates, but you'll have "da skillz".
Programmers do get one advantage, which is that our careers and our hobbies can coincide in ways that many can't (though it is not unique in this way).