Range
Episodes about this book
6 episodesThe Most Decorated Winter Olympian Ever: Johannes Klæbo On Training, Mindset & Reinventing His Sport
Host Rich Roll asks guest Johannes Klaebo whether he has read Range by David Epstein; Klaebo says no. Roll then summarises the book's thesis — that the best performers across science, academia, and athletics tend to be people who tried many things when young before arriving at their specialty later — directly connecting it to Norway's multi-sport development model they had just been discussing. Roll says he will send Klaebo the book.
253: How to Try Again by Steve Kamb
252: The Book of Elon by Eric Jorgenson
258: Personal Defaults
Mike notes that Range was discussed in the previous episode with guest Stephen Robles and generated a lot of positive listener mail. He briefly characterises the book as being about generalists, as context for introducing Epstein's follow-up.
257: I Go By Vibes, with Stephen Robles
Stephen Robles describes how reading Range resolved a long internal conflict about being a generalist rather than an expert. He discusses the book's chess-master example — specialists excel in familiar patterns but struggle when the situation changes — to argue that multidisciplinary experience offers its own kind of flexibility. Mike Schmitz affirms it as a phenomenal book and ties it to a broader conversation about whether generalists will thrive in an AI-driven world.
#466 Brad Stulberg, Author of The Way of Excellence, on Redefining Excellence, the Mindset of High Performance, Building Effective Habits, and Finding Meaning in it All
Host John O'Sullivan references a previous episode featuring David Epstein discussing Range, recalling Epstein's description of his approach: writing about topics people discuss at parties without real understanding, then filling that gap with research. John uses this as a frame to describe what Brad Stulberg's new book does for the concept of excellence.
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All summaries are AI generated based on the original transcript.