Mastery by Robert Greene

Books Are Great

Shownotes: www.booksaregreat.com/mastery-greene

In as few words as possible. What is the book about?

The lives of many past masters can be analyzed and parallels can be drawn throughout certain periods in their development. We can take repeating patterns as a hint that those steps are crucial to success, especially when shown to repeat consistently over large spans of time. The best masters learned deeply, usually from a skilled individual, surpassed that person and engaged themselves wholly in the creative task throughout their career.

How is the argument laid out?

Greene tells tons of interesting anecdotes that give credence to his claims and give the reader nice stories to hook the main ideas onto.

Key ideas and terms

Apprenticeship - Absorb the master’s power. Technical skill and observation.

Social Intelligence - See people as they are, no more and no less.

Creative-Active - Engage playfulness and a sense of childlike wonder to breed creativity.