Part One Words, Phrases and Sentences
come to the fore 涌现;崭露头角
e.g. In this particular sort of challenge—piecing together a number of clues—the mental representations
of expert doctors come to the fore.
red herring 转移注意力的话题;与事实不相干的论点
e.g. A doctor diagnosing a patient with a complex set of symptoms must take in a great deal of information without knowing ahead of time which is most relevant and which might be red herrings.
apples-to-apples comparision 同类比较
e.g. The average age of the dancers was twenty-six, but the youngest was eighteen, so to have an apples-to-apples comparison, we looked at the accumulated amount of practice through age seventeen and the skill level at age eighteen.
boil down to 简化为,归结为
e.g. In practice this often boils down to purposeful practice with a few extra steps: first, identify the expert performers, then figure out what they do that makes them so good, then come up with training techniques that allow you to do it, too.
Part Two Summary
The Chapter Three primarily uncovers the importance and characteristics of mental representations by citing the example of chess winning. Next, the author conceptualises " mental representation" and lists several usages of it such as in planning, writing, and learning.
The next chapter focuses on the " golden standards" of deliberate practice, which can be summarized as follows:
Deliberate practice should develop with a clear goal and effective feedbacks from a good instructor. It depends on one's full attention, action, as well as effective mental representation. The practicers are supposed to get out of their comfort zone properly as well as trying again and again purposefully.
Part Three What I Have Learned
在阅读第三章和第四章的过程中,我能够联想到一系列我自己在学习过程中的经历。在运动员Paavo Nurmi的例子中,作者提到,这位创下多项世界纪录的冠军在当时有着独树一帜的训练方法,掐表、间隔训练、长期训练,这些方法在我们今天看来也许习以为常,但是不可否认的是,这些方法是行之有效的,不仅仅在田径场上,在学习中也是这样——大部分有过考前“魔鬼训练”经验的人都知道,很多人都会在练习的时候掐表,把时间掌控在比规定时间更短的范围内,经过一段时间的练习后,做题速度就能有可观的提升。包括在学习外语的过程中,很多人也会尝试着刻意的练习,想要有一口地道的美音或英音(clear goal),然后制定一系列的打卡计划(accurate plan),特意报了语音班或者是去外语角(good coaches /instructors),每天逼自己早起朗读背诵(get out of the comfort zone)……其实我们会发现“刻意练习”就像一个万能的方法论,可以应用到生活中的很多方面。
除此之外,还有一个点让我印象深刻,就是在第四章最后一节,作者提出了他对“一万小时定律”的一些看法。说实话这个定律在近一个月内以相当高的频率出现在我的朋友圈,仿佛大家对这个定律都深信不疑,但是作者提出了诸如“一万小时”不够准确、Outlier的作者举的一些例子不够有说服力的理由,并用他自己的实验来论证他的观点。撇开作者的一些反对观点不提,我关注了一下作者举例论证的内容,确实是非常的简洁有力。我试着highlight作者的观点,然后清楚地看到,这些观点凑起来差不多就是我们平时写文章的样子了,可是为什么看自己的文章总是觉得“干巴巴”的没有说服力呢?关键就在于作者的论证,他用了一系列不同领域的例子来进行说明,其中很多还是他自己的实验过程,这使得说明的可信度相当之高。最妙的是,Steve Faloon 的例子从第一章就开始阐述了,在第四章中我们仍然能时不时地看到这个例子被引用来说明问题,可见作者在整本书的构思过程中,在选取材料上下的功夫可谓慎之又慎。
在我自己接下来的一些写作练习中,我也想要尝试一下作者在构建框架和论证说明的方法。最重要的一点是,我希望自己能够在接下来的阅读过程中提出一些深刻的、有针对性的问题,而不是一味地认为作者所言都是对的。