The Freakanomics authors, writing in the New York Times, report that:

[Academics in the USA have] compiled the "Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance," a 900-page academic book that will be published next month.

This tome makes a rather startling assertion: that the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated.

Or, put another way, expert performers — whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming — are nearly always made, not born.

And yes, practice does make perfect. These may be the sort of clichés that parents are fond of whispering to their children. But these particular clichés just happen to be true.

Link: A Star Is Made - New York Times.