New book

There is probably no better indicator that life is starting to go back to normal around here than the fact I have a new book that I am excited to start. (And I just want to mention that R. slept in her own bed without waking up for the first time in weeks.) The book is Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool. One of the things I'm enjoying about the Creativeness and the Brain Great Courses course is the fact that the teacher is always referencing interesting books. Quite a few I have read but some I haven't. This is one of the ones I hadn't even heard of. 

I've now read the introduction and am excited to dig in. Because doesn't this sound interesting?

"But we now understand that there's no such thing as a predefined ability. The brain is adaptable, and training can create skills -- such as perfect pitch -- that did not exist before. This is a game changer, because learning now becomes a way of creating abilities rather than of bringing people to the point where they can take advantage of their innate ones. In this new world it no longer makes sense to think of people as born with fixed reserves of potential; instead, potential is an expandable vessel, shaped by the various things we do throughout our lives. Learning isn't a way of reaching one's potential but rather a way developing it. We can create our own potential. And this is true whether our goal is to become a concert pianist or just play the piano well enough to amuse ourselves, to join the PGA golf tour or just bring out handicaps down a few strokes.  ...   The right sort of practice carried out over a sufficient period of time leads to improvement. Nothing else. This book describes in detail what that 'right sort of practice' is and how it can be put to work." (pp. xx - xxi)

Intriguing isn't it? I've come across the idea of effective practice versus just unthinking rote practice before. I'm excited to read it. But, there is one thing I am not excited about. I don't know if you can see it in this photo,

but the plastic library cover on the dust jacket is a very weird matte plastic thing. I've never come across one like it and I don't like it. It feels... icky. My brain has lumped the feeling into the same file folder as old style plastic diaper covers. Doesn't that just make you want to hold the book? It will either cause me to read the book very fast because I want to read it but also need to be done having to hold it or I'll just avoid it altogether. I guess we'll find out which one it will be. But why did the library chose this? I don't understand.