Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice

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Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice
Matthew Syed

Originally published as BOUNCE: How Champions Are MadeThe ‘Freakonomics of Sport’…What are the real secrets of sporting success, and what lessons do they offer about life in general? Why doesn’t Tiger Woods “choke”? Why are the best figure skaters those that have fallen over the most and why has one small street in Reading produced more top table tennis players than the rest of the country put together.As a three-time Commonwealth table-tennis champion and two-time Olympian, Matthew Syed is perfectly placed to show what it takes to get to the top in any discipline. And as an award-winning writer for the sports and comment pages of the Times – and holder of a prize-winning degree from Oxford University – he knows the facts, the science and the personalities better than anyone.In his book Matt overturns myths and outdated thinking to show “why it is that top sportsmen seem to perceive faster, smarter and deeper than the rest of us.” He draws on the latest in neuroscience and psychology to discover why so many top athletes are superstitious, and meets the Hungarian man who turned his daughters into three of the best chess players in history – and explains how.Along the way, he introduces an extraordinary cast of footballers, cricketers, baseball players, speedskaters, scientists and experts – and interviews the East German athlete who became a man, and her husband. Matthew’s book is crammed full of fascinating stories and telling studies, insights and statistics, all brought together to make a wonderfully thought-provoking read.Matthew’s book is not simply the Freakonomics of sport though – it looks at big questions such as the nature of talent, what kind of practice actually works, how to achieve motivation, drugs in sport (and life) and whether black people really are faster runners. Fresh, ground-breaking and tackling subjects with wide appeal, Matthew’s book is sure to be one of the most talked-about of the year.

Bounce

How Champions Are Made

Matthew Syed

Copyright (#ulink_fef17b8c-c053-5581-99ee-a4604739843a)

First published in Great Britain in 2010

Fourth Estate

A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thestate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)

Copyright © Matthew Syed 2010

The right of Matthew Syed to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007350520

Ebook Edition: 9780007350537

Version: 2018-08-02

For Dilys

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u77b2d121-aa21-57ba-a2a2-9d6649f1dbdd)

Title Page (#ua0fab2c6-5677-55be-a331-1fb0682b337d)

Copyright (#u9127d3ae-3821-55e4-8647-ce85259f2672)

Dedication (#uaa19827e-6038-5db8-908e-73fa6ec401e1)

PART I The Talent Myth (#u4e735952-fb56-584f-aa1e-2717a4671d75)

1 The Hidden Logic of Success (#u893ae71c-a6c2-514b-88e6-39ed86f20c52)

2 Miraculous Children? (#u37e50fdf-6a5d-5a01-8e68-61608fdc41dc)

3 The Path to Excellence (#u710b0551-ed95-508b-a1b0-0c6b85949869)

4 Mysterious Sparks and Life-Changing Mindsets (#ucef797d6-7ea2-5daf-b7d0-05ee07dc3b07)

PART II Paradoxes of the Mind (#u3afc4a3a-6626-56e1-a11b-2116f61a862a)

5 The Placebo Effect (#ub0f71286-4a7c-560a-91e4-644b64b81ec8)

6 The Curse of Choking and How to Avoid It (#u1a63969a-ebfe-5899-a920-083c84b7c0ee)

7 Baseball Rituals, Pigeons, and Why Great Sportsmen Feel Miserable after Winning (#u3107ff07-7f1c-58d0-867d-fcaf051ad08f)

PART III Deep Reflections (#ub957af45-aad7-5374-9558-1a0e9d444b3c)

8 Optical Illusions and X-ray Vision (#u4752abde-2f24-580d-a324-bf524f2ac5b9)

9 Drugs in Sport, Schwarzenegger Mice, and the Future of Mankind (#ud47f4c89-91c0-5d14-bbb1-88efdae0334e)

10 Are Blacks Superior Runners? (#u46a95fab-1779-5baa-9535-eaca029cce8e)

Notes (#u0031d882-e351-5568-9ec0-e1c0c37b5521)

Index (#udf3fe529-71b0-5ab4-a91f-14177a2e78a9)

Acknowledgements (#uc5983ee6-86bd-5692-832f-5c2c4e5abac8)

About the Publisher (#u5283e6ca-b864-502d-86d0-ac628cff9073)

PART I The Talent Myth (#ulink_e0798c7d-921f-52e7-ae6e-7d82cd464aad)