The Sweet Spot by Daniel Coyle: Critical Review

Critical Review: Daniel Coyle (2009). " The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t born, it’s grown. Here’s how." (Chapter one, The Sweet Spot). New York : Bantam Books.

 

 

The author of the book, wanting to show that talents can be also made, gives examples to show just how important practice is. Football, for instance; Coyle talks about how with practice, you can make errors and correct them, how, even when  they struggle, after a few times of trying, they can achieve what they wanted. Even though the author gives plenty of examples, and is very encouraging, I don't entirely agree with him. What Coyle says about deep practice, how you can do anything with it, is not always true. Let's say you are a doctor, and you have to do a surgery or operation. You can't make an error - there is no correcting if you do. If you make an error, your patient may even die. That, I think, is what Coyle left out.  But it still is mostly possible. I love the way Coyle shows the many ways you can become better, just by practising deeper. It also helps a lot - I myself find it easier to remember things when I think about deep practice. It works with nearly anything, really.  Say you're baking a cake. You make an error - the cake doesn't come out to well. Next time you will remember what error you made, and what you should correct. It also works with making plaits - you make an error,you try again and correct it, or, when you're drawing a picture - you make an error, rub it out, correct it. Another example I can give is writing a book, or a summary. You write, you make an error, read it again, correct it, and so on. There are so many examples to what Coyle said - it would take many pages to write them all down. I find it quite amazing that Coyle took his time to go round across the globe, just to find out more about how you can practice deeply, to achieve anything and write it down so other people could find out about it as well. Anyone who reads this, I'm certain that they will find learning much easier. I don't have much more to say about this book - all I have left to say is that Coyle's work is very inspiring, and that you can learn a lot from it.