Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success

by Matthew Syed

Overview

Why have all the sprinters who have run the 100 meters in under ten seconds been black?

What's one thing Mozart, Venus Williams, and Michelangelo have in common?

Why are baseball players so superstitious?

We love to win and hate to lose, whether it's on the playing field, in the office, or in the classroom. In this bold new look at human behavior, award-winning journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed explores the truth about our competitive nature—why we win, why we don't, and how we really play the game of life.

Bounce reveals how competition—the most vivid, primal, and dramatic of human pursuits—provides vital insight into many of the most controversial issues of our time. From biology and economics to psychology and culture, from genetics and race to sports and politics, Bounce shows how competition provides a master key with which to unlock the mysteries of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061723766
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/03/2011
Series:	P.S. Series
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	348,978
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

A two-time Olympian and a graduate of Oxford University, Matthew Syed is a columnist for The Times (London), a commentator for the BBC, and a recipient of the British Press Award for Sports Journalist of the Year, and was named British Sports Feature Writer of the Year by the Sports Journalists' Association.

Table of Contents

Part I The Talent Myth

Chapter 1 The Hidden Logic of Success 3

Chapter 2 Miraculous Children? 55

Chapter 3 The Path to Excellence 77

Chapter 4 Mysterious Sparks and Life-Changing Mind-Sets 113

Part II Paradoxes of the Mind

Chapter 5 The Placebo Effect 149

Chapter 6 The Curse of Choking and How to Avoid It 181

Chapter 7 Baseball Rituals, Pigeons, and Why Great Sportsmen Feel Miserable After Winning 201

Part III Deep Reflections

Chapter 8 Optical Illusions and X-Ray Vision 217

Chapter 9 Drugs in Sport, Schwarzenegger Mice, and the Future of Mankind 233

Chapter 10 Are Blacks Superior Runners? 255

Acknowledgments 287

Notes 289

Index 303

What People are Saying About This

Dan Ariely

“Sport is often used as an analogy for business, education, and personal relationships. In this insightful and entertaining book, Matthew Syed takes us a step deeper into the world of sports, showing us how much we can learn about our own behavior.”

Jonathan Edwards

“Intellectually stimulating and hugely enjoyable at a stroke. . . . Challenged some of my most cherished beliefs about life and success.”

Mark Thomas

“A cutting edge dissection—and ultimate destruction—of the myth of innate talent in the pursuit of excellence. Syed synthesizes his evidence with the precision of an academic, writes with the fluidity of a journalist, and persuades with the drive of a sportsman. Read this book.”

Michael Sherwood

“Compelling and, at times, exhilarating—Bounce explains high achievement in sport, business, and beyond.”

Editorial Reviews

Sport is often used as an analogy for business, education, and personal relationships. In this insightful and entertaining book, Matthew Syed takes us a step deeper into the world of sports, showing us how much we can learn about our own behavior.

Dan Ariely

A cutting edge dissection—and ultimate destruction—of the myth of innate talent in the pursuit of excellence. Syed synthesizes his evidence with the precision of an academic, writes with the fluidity of a journalist, and persuades with the drive of a sportsman. Read this book.

Mark Thomas

Intellectually stimulating and hugely enjoyable at a stroke. . . . Challenged some of my most cherished beliefs about life and success.

Jonathan Edwards

Compelling and, at times, exhilarating—Bounce explains high achievement in sport, business, and beyond.

Michael Sherwood

Syed, sportswriter and columnist for the London Times, takes a hard look at performance psychology, heavily influenced by his own ego-damaging but fruitful epiphany. At the age of 24, Syed became the #1 British table tennis player, an achievement he initially attributed to his superior speed and agility. But in retrospect, he realizes that a combination of advantages—a mentor, good facilities nearby, and lots of time to hone his skills—set him up perfectly to become a star performer. He admits his argument owes a debt to Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, but he aims to move one step beyond it, drawing on cognitive neuroscience research to explain how the body and mind are transformed by specialized practice. He takes on the myth of the child prodigy, emphasizing that Mozart, the Williams sisters, Tiger Woods, and Susan Polgar, the first female grandmaster, all had live-in coaches in the form of supportive parents who put them through a ton of early practice. Cogent discussions of the neuroscience of competition, including the placebo effect of irrational optimism, self-doubt, and superstitions, all lend credence to a compelling narrative; readers who gobbled up Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational will flock to this one. (May)

Publishers Weekly