{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Book","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/","name":"Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise","shortTitle":"Peak","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool"},"isbn":"9780544456235","numberOfPages":9,"wordCount":3952,"timeRequired":"PT16M","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","publisher":{"@id":"https://readstacks.com/#organization","@type":"Organization","name":"Read Stacks"},"workExample":[{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/introduction-the-gift/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/introduction-the-gift/","name":"The Gift","wordCount":442,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"Ericsson opens with the conventional explanation for extraordinary skill: gift, talent, innate ability. The book's thirty-year argument, based on his research career studying experts in chess, music, athletics, medicine, and other domains, is that the conventional explanation is wrong in ways that matter.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-1-the-power-of-purposeful-practice/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-1-the-power-of-purposeful-practice/","name":"The Power of Purposeful Practice","position":1,"wordCount":436,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter introduces the first level of structured practice above naive repetition: purposeful practice. Purposeful practice has four characteristics that ordinary practice lacks. It has well-defined, specific goals. It is focused, with full attention on the task.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-2-harnessing-adaptability/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-2-harnessing-adaptability/","name":"Harnessing Adaptability","position":2,"wordCount":407,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter explains why deliberate practice works at the biological level. The human brain and body are remarkably adaptable — they change in response to demands placed on them. Practice that pushes capabilities past their current limits triggers physiological adaptation: new neural connections, new patterns…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-3-mental-representations/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-3-mental-representations/","name":"Mental Representations","position":3,"wordCount":419,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter introduces what Ericsson considers the central explanatory concept of expertise: mental representations. Expert performers do not have faster reflexes or stronger memories than non-experts; they have more elaborate, more detailed, more retrievable mental representations of their domain.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-4-the-gold-standard/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-4-the-gold-standard/","name":"The Gold Standard","position":4,"wordCount":439,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"The chapter defines deliberate practice — the gold standard above purposeful practice — and the specific characteristics that distinguish it. Deliberate practice exists only in domains that have a long history of mature pedagogy: domains where there is a reliable test of expert performance, a…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-5-principles-of-deliberate-practice-on-the-job/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-5-principles-of-deliberate-practice-on-the-job/","name":"Principles of Deliberate Practice on the Job","position":5,"wordCount":427,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter applies deliberate practice principles to professional development in fields without mature pedagogy. Ericsson's argument is that meaningful improvement is possible in any field if practitioners can engineer feedback loops, identify specific subskills to practice, and dedicate focused time to working at the edge…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-6-principles-of-deliberate-practice-in-everyday-life/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-6-principles-of-deliberate-practice-in-everyday-life/","name":"Principles of Deliberate Practice in Everyday Life","position":6,"wordCount":433,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter extends the deliberate-practice frame to personal pursuits — hobbies, skills, side projects — that ordinary people undertake. The principles transfer, but the implementation requires more individual initiative since there is rarely a coach or institutional structure to organize the practice.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-7-the-road-to-extraordinary/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-7-the-road-to-extraordinary/","name":"The Road to Extraordinary","position":7,"wordCount":462,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"The chapter examines what separates the best performers in domains where deliberate practice has been thoroughly applied — Olympic athletes, top chess players, world-class musicians — from the merely excellent. The answer, consistent with the rest of the book, is more sustained deliberate practice over…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-8-how-to-explain-natural-talent/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/peak-anders-ericsson/chapter-8-how-to-explain-natural-talent/","name":"How to Explain Natural Talent","position":8,"wordCount":487,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"The book's closing chapter addresses the obvious objection: what about the apparent prodigies — children who seem to display extraordinary ability before any meaningful practice has occurred? Ericsson walks through the cases most often cited (Mozart, chess prodigies, child athletes) and argues that on careful…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T21:00:00Z"}]}