I have to say that this is one of those books that I haven’t struggled to get through lately. Despite the fact that I got way behind in my writing and reviewing, I had no trouble finding time to read it. A lot of the books I have chosen in the last couple of years seem like an obligation to read rather than a desire. I guess that is what happens when you sign up for a weekly deadline.

I think that what is great about this book is that it offers hope. There really is the ability to do anything that you want to if you go about it with the right approach. I also find it empowering to learn that it isn’t just luck to become what you want. Of course, if you wait too long like me then you start to lose that ability. Age catches up with us all eventually.

What I would say about the Talent Code is that this is a worthwhile book to read. Even if it doesn’t work, it offers a different way to look at things. I tend to believe that it actually does work based on my experience. My example is as follows.

A mark of a young programmer is that when code executes and it doesn’t do what is expected there is a tendency to defend the code. This is especially true when the problem cannot be duplicated. What I believe is that code does not just behave randomly, the conditions have not been created so that it can be duplicated. I have seen things that I find very hard to believe, but I have seen it, so it is true.

The act of trying to figure out what those conditions are is deep practice. This is running test conditions that do not duplicate the problem until you can identify the problem condition. It is kind of the opposite of the musician problem but no less viable. Once you can change you opening position from it can’t be duplicated to what is happening differently, you become a significantly better programmer.

Sorry that I don’t have a great story that I tried real hard and became some kind of high paid athlete, programming is the world I know. But, I think the story works, it is what I did anyway. Actually, the act of programming is a good exercise in deep practice. You code, you test, you analyze, code and test again. It does make a person become fairly effective, relatively quickly.

If you will recall, this was not the book that I thought I was going to read when I started. I stated that in the Part One a few months ago. It actually turned out much better than what I thought. The Talent Code is a method to do nearly anything better, not just lead a team or be a better manager. I thank my former co-worker for suggesting this book to me and I am sorry that I put it off for so long.

This isn’t a book that I am going to put on my must read list. Those are reserved for very special books like 1984. However, if I were Dave Ramsey, I would put this on my reading list. It falls in perfectly with Who Moved My Cheese and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is part of a collection of books that you can use to make your life better. To be honest, anybody should be interested in that.

As I stated last week, we are going back to CS Lewis for the next book. I highly suspect that there will be a couple of weeks before chapters 1-3 appear. We are in the midst of moving right now and to be honest, I haven’t even started reading the book yet. Clearly you don’t need my permission but go ahead and read whatever you want until I am back.

End Your Programming Routine: It is very easy to believe that the elite come from some special stock. You see certain demographics repeatedly in sports. But, you too can can be elite if you combine the right factors. Without a doubt, you can be good enough. That is good to know.