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Exchange Exemplar: Knowing A Lot Of Stuff Is Good For You

The prevailing thinking about how to get really good at something is to start young and practice constantly and tirelessly.

Then exceptions come along, like tennis champion Roger Federer, who played lots of other sports in his youth. There's also Duke Ellington, who took up music after visual art, and never learned to read music.

These and other examples populate David Epstein's book Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.

Maybe learning a LOT of skills makes you a better problem solver?

Epstein addresses these and other questions in this 2019 interview.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.