Chapter 9Fast-Track to Expertise
In Rain Man, Raymond Babbit (Dustin Hoffman) amazes his brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) by memorizing the alphanumeric designations of all the songs on a table-top diner jukebox in minutes. Charlie reads the name of the song; Raymond shoots back “G4,” “Ml,” and so on. What’s Raymond’s strategy for convincing his brother that he’s an expert? None. He doesn’t even know what an expert is.
—Gregory Hartley, How to Become an Expert on Anything in 2 Hours
Expertise reflects a deliberate effort by someone to project knowledge. For example, Maryann grew up in a town where Bethlehem Steel Corporation had an important presence. She had a lot of anecdotal information about plant operations, executive decisions, and financial ...
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