For the most part, I found this an interesting and engaging book. It lapses into overemphasis more than occasionally, but that is a feature of the self-help/pop-pyschology genre. Its polemic against talent culture makes for potentially inspiring reading, not least for someone who has spent a lot of time working with (and sometimes against) those who are either described as or, or believe that someone else is, 'naturally talented' - not because it feels surprising or vindicating, but simply because the valorisation of well-focused work as the route to improvement is an important thing, regardless of whether or not predisposition exists.
On the whole, I felt it to be an easy read and laid out in a logical manner; my only quibble in this sense arrived at towards the end of the book, with its discussion of race as a factor in success - or failure. I think that this is an important discussion, but I am doubtful of its positioning in the book - it feels like an addendum or an afterthought, not quite integrated into the general flow of the arguments.
Why four stars, not five? I am fairly strongly of the view that 'nurture' is the deciding factor in development in most things, but I'm not willing to dismiss 'nature' out of hand - I think it is probably illogical to deny that physiology might play a role in certain arenas, and so on, and likewise to deny that some physiological features might be 'natural'. As such, I find the author's complete dismissal of these factors to be a little problematic; to my mind, it would be a more interesting read if this were more comprehensively addressed.
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