Developing Talent in Young People

by Benjamin S. Bloom

The dramatic findings of a ground-breaking study of 120 immensely talented individuals reveal astonishing new information on developing talent in young people.

- The Nature of the Study and Why It Was Done
- Learning to Be a Concert Pianist
- One Concert Pianist
- The Development of Accomplished Sculptors
- The Development of Olympic Swimmers
- One Olympic Swimmer
- Learning to Be a World-Class Tennis Player
- The Development of Exceptional Research Mathematicians
- One Mathematician: "Hal Foster"
- Becoming an Outstanding Research Neurologist
- Phases of Learning
- Home Influences on Talent Development
- A Long-Term Commitment to Learning
- Generalizations About Talent Development

Genres: Education, Parenting, Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Leadership

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1985

About the author

Benjamin S. Bloom was an American educational psychologist who has made contributions to the classification of educational objectives and to the theory of mastery-learning.

Reviews

[David Dillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little wild that Benjamin Bloom — creator of Bloom's Taxonomy, arguably the most widely used framework for educational goals in history — conducted a landmark longitudinal study of 120 exceptionally talented individuals, producing a 500+ page deep dive into how talent is fostered from birth to mastery, and it has exactly one review on Goodreads.

Perhaps it's the 500 pages, or the academic material, or the 40 years since it was written, or the 50-60 years of drift for cultural and social norms for success described here. Whatever the reason, this book deserves far more attention than it gets.

But I found this really interesting. Bloom and his team break down what it takes to become "highly successful" — and these metrics are very field-specific — as a concert pianist, sculptor, Olympic swimmer, tennis player, mathematician, and research neurologist. Through interviews with the individuals, their parents, siblings, and many, many teachers, this book outlines different learning phases, what kinds of support are required in these phases, what sacrifices, decisions, and inputs go into success at these phases, and how these individuals continued to ascend in their various fields.

In the nature versus nurture debate, this lands an incredible salvo from the nurture camp. While some early successes were important to build confidence and motivation, almost none of these individuals studied showed remarkable promise from a young age. Innate talent matters far less than structured development. What is important, and what really matters, is what kinds of learning and practice are required at different phases and the continual work it takes to achieve expertise.

At an extremely general level, this book breaks down learning into 3 distinct phases:

Phase 1: Playful early exploration where joy, and fun are important building blocks, teaching is light, fun, rewarding. Importance is placed on the visibility of success from family and close friends.
Phase 2: Strenuous development from early building blocks, correct instruction, increasingly demanding teachers, long hours, rigorous practice. In this period, many other doors and paths are closed as the individual increasingly focuses on their area of expertise.
Phase 3: Focus shifts to finding and training with an exceptional, world-class teacher, developing a personal attachment to the field, finding a deeper reason for continuing, and longer, more intense practice. This phase often necessitated significant time and money from their family and support network.

Very cool book for any educator or parent.

Great book!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has some great information but I found it hard to read because of the style.