Reading List for the Many-Minded
Books and a talk on multipotentiality, range, and refusing to specialize.
Free
- Books on range, generalists and multipotentiality
- A short talk, for when you don't have time for a book
- One line on why each one is on the list
Anyone who wants the long version.
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Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
David Epstein
The research case for range: people who sample widely often end up doing the most original work.
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How to Be Everything
Emilie Wapnick
From the person who popularized the word multipotentialite. Practical ways to build a working life around many interests.
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Refuse to Choose!
Barbara Sher
Named the "Scanner", someone who wants to do everything. Warm, practical, and early to the subject.
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The Medici Effect
Frans Johansson
Why new ideas tend to show up where fields intersect. The case for crossing over.
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Where Good Ideas Come From
Steven Johnson
On the "adjacent possible": how new ideas get built from parts that are already lying around.
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Steal Like an Artist
Austin Kleon
A short, permission-giving book about borrowing from everywhere. You can read it in an afternoon.
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The Multi-Hyphen Method
Emma Gannon
On building a working life out of several jobs at once, without apologizing for it.
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Why some of us don't have one true calling
Emilie Wapnick (TED)
A short talk, and for many people the first time they heard that range has a name.
Have one that belongs here? Bring it to a show & tell, or tell us when you join the studio.