Creativity and Mastery

I'd not been aware of this book until a friend recommended one of his other titles to me.  The local library didn't have that particular book in its collection, but it *did* have this one.  Since I've been intrigued by the concept of 'mastery' since I was a kid***, I put in a hold request and yesterday I finally opened it and started reading.

Dear reader, I would like to re-post everything I have read - so far - but instead I will suggest that if you, like me, are a teacher, or a student, or just interested in how people learn, I bet you will find this book thoughtful.

Now, I've only read a few pages and I may become disappointed in it (if it gets repetitive) but so far?  I'm hooked.  

I also like his writing style, using stories to make his points.  A form of teaching that I embrace.  (As any of my students will confirm!)

One of the things he talks about is that before you can achieve 'mastery' you have to spend time on the learning curve and what you make initially isn't going to be very good.  As a weaver, I have tried to explain to my students that expecting 'perfection' the very first time they try to weave is unrealistic.  So yes, his message is on point, as far as I'm concerned.

So, I'm going to keep reading and see what else he has to say about the topic of 'mastery'.  And if nothing else, I'm sure I will enjoy his stories.

***as a kid my father would frequently watch someone who was a 'master' at doing something and comment something to the effect of beware of someone who made something look 'easy'.  Took me a long time to understand that what he was pointing out was that the person doing the 'easy' thing had 'mastered' what it was they were doing, and to not assume that just *because* they made it look 'easy', it was.  It was a subtle observation, but once I understood it, I began to really respect people who made something *look* easy.  And I also understood that in order to make something look 'easy' they had a lot of 'failures' along the way.  So failure was just part of the process on the way to 'mastery'.