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The real work : on the mystery of mastery / Adam Gopnik.

By: Publisher: New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: x, 241 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 1324090758
  • 9781324090755
Other title:
  • On the mystery of mastery
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 153.9 23/eng/20230227
LOC classification:
  • BF378 .E94 G67 2023
Contents:
Introduction -- The first mystery of mastery: the Turk, or, the mystery of performance -- Drawing -- Making magic -- The second mystery of mastery: Erdnase, or, the mystery of identity and intention -- Driving -- The third mystery of mastery : the hummingbird's heartbeat, or, the mystery of interiority -- Baking -- The fourth mystery of mastery: the mystery of meaning -- The fifth mystery of mastery: the mystery of late style, or, the sourdough starter -- Relieving -- The sixth mystery of mastery: catching the bullet, or, the mystery of the act itself -- The real work, in progress: boxing and dancing -- The seventh mystery of mastery, resolved.
Summary: "In The Real Work--the term magicians use for the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick--Gopnik becomes a dedicated student of several masters of their craft: a classical painter, a boxer, a dancing instructor, a driving instructor, and others. Rejecting self-help bromides and bullet points, he nevertheless shows that the top people in any field share a set of common qualities and methods. For one, their mastery is always a process of breaking down and building up--of identifying and perfecting the small constituent parts of a skill and the combining them for an overall effect greater than the sum of those parts. For another, mastery almost always involves intentional imperfection--as in music, where vibrato, a way of not quite landing on the right note, carries maximum expressiveness. Gopnik's simplest and most invigorating lesson, however, is that we are surrounded by mastery. Far from rare, mastery is commonplace, if we only know where to look: from the parent who can whip up a professional strudel to the social worker who--in one of the most personally revealing passages Gopnik has ever written--helps him master his own demons. Spirited and profound, The Real Work will help you understand how mastery can happen in your own life--and, significantly, why each of us relentlessly seeks to better ourselves in the first place"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Current library Shelving location Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Book Book NMC Library Stacks BF378 .E94 G67 2023 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 33039001510261

Introduction -- The first mystery of mastery: the Turk, or, the mystery of performance -- Drawing -- Making magic -- The second mystery of mastery: Erdnase, or, the mystery of identity and intention -- Driving -- The third mystery of mastery : the hummingbird's heartbeat, or, the mystery of interiority -- Baking -- The fourth mystery of mastery: the mystery of meaning -- The fifth mystery of mastery: the mystery of late style, or, the sourdough starter -- Relieving -- The sixth mystery of mastery: catching the bullet, or, the mystery of the act itself -- The real work, in progress: boxing and dancing -- The seventh mystery of mastery, resolved.

"In The Real Work--the term magicians use for the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick--Gopnik becomes a dedicated student of several masters of their craft: a classical painter, a boxer, a dancing instructor, a driving instructor, and others. Rejecting self-help bromides and bullet points, he nevertheless shows that the top people in any field share a set of common qualities and methods. For one, their mastery is always a process of breaking down and building up--of identifying and perfecting the small constituent parts of a skill and the combining them for an overall effect greater than the sum of those parts. For another, mastery almost always involves intentional imperfection--as in music, where vibrato, a way of not quite landing on the right note, carries maximum expressiveness. Gopnik's simplest and most invigorating lesson, however, is that we are surrounded by mastery. Far from rare, mastery is commonplace, if we only know where to look: from the parent who can whip up a professional strudel to the social worker who--in one of the most personally revealing passages Gopnik has ever written--helps him master his own demons. Spirited and profound, The Real Work will help you understand how mastery can happen in your own life--and, significantly, why each of us relentlessly seeks to better ourselves in the first place"-- Provided by publisher.

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