Expertise
Learning and creating the environments in which it happens are both skills in themselves. Expert performance stems from a combination of structured practice, effective feedback, and the right constraints. Ericsson shows how deliberate practice builds skill step by step. Fitts and Posner map the stages that learners pass through on the way to automaticity. David Epstein adds balance: The Sports Gene looks at how biology, maturation, and early constraints shape potential, while Range shows how breadth, sampling, and cross-domain transfer create adaptable problem solvers. Together, these books give you a practical playbook for designing training, coaching people at different stages, and making better calls about when to specialize and when to stay broad.
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise – Anders Ericsson
An approachable guide to how expertise is built, based on decades of research from the world’s leading authority on skill development. Ericsson explains the principles of deliberate practice and how they apply to any field.
Development of Professional Expertise – Anders Ericsson
A collection of research exploring how experts are made across domains from medicine to music. This book goes deeper and is more academic than Peak, focusing on the science of learning, skill acquisition, and performance in professional contexts. Best for coaches, educators, and practitioners who want to understand the nuances of developing high-level expertise.
Neuroeconomics, Judgment and Decision-Making – Evan A. Wilhelms and Valerie F. Reyna
An in-depth, research-focused exploration of how our brains make choices through the lenses of neuroscience, psychology, and economics. The authors examine the interplay between emotion, intuition, and reason in decision-making, with insights that apply from everyday choices to high-stakes environments. Dense but valuable for anyone seeking a scientific understanding of human judgment.
The Sports Gene – David Epstein
This book digs into the long-running debate of nature vs. nurture in athletic performance. Epstein looks at how genetics, physiology, and environment interact to produce elite ability. From sprinting to endurance sports, he explores why some traits are trainable while others are innate advantages, and how subtle genetic differences can change the path of an athlete. It’s an engaging, science-driven look at the edges of human performance and where hard work meets biology.
Range – David Epstein
Where The Sports Gene asks how specialists are made, Range argues that generalists often thrive in a complex world. Epstein contrasts narrow, early specialization with wide-ranging experience, showing that adaptability, creativity, and the ability to draw from diverse fields are often what separate top performers. He uses examples from sports, science, business, and art to make the case that cultivating breadth (learning across domains) can be more valuable than focusing too narrowly, especially when solving novel problems.
Human Performance – Fitts and Posner
Originally published in 1967, this classic text laid the groundwork for much of what we know about motor learning and skill acquisition. Fitts and Posner’s three-stage model (cognitive, associative, and autonomous) remains a cornerstone in both research and coaching. While some examples feel dated, the framework is timeless and still shapes modern approaches to developing expertise.