Recommended Books That Relate to “Mastery”
If you mind-map “mastery process”, some, tangential categories I’ve chosen are:
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Mastery-Process books
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Experts Who Authored Their Mastery Tales
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Mastery Overview Tips and Guidelines
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Neurobiology for Rewiring Neural Pathways for Skills
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Psychological Flow
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Mindfulness for:
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Emotional Regulation
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New, Improved Habit Rewiring
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Habit Management
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Mastery-Path Virtues
All books that follow have Amazon reviews, etc. For each book, I’ve included: the year of publication; the total number of reviews; and overall, average, star rating. I have 100+ more books in my library that I could have included that are in some way and degree apropos to “mastery”. But, these are some of the best.
The science of achievement is progressive and accumulative, and it’s all on the internet. Besides books, you might experiment with any of these topics by googling: “best article (or youtube) on X”. There is great, free content out there (amidst the infomercials).
The bigger challenge is: how to integrate all of these topics into one holistic, overview that will help more people become what they wish they could be. Too many people are spending their dopamine on passive, digital entertainment that is making the Algo Lords rich.
Mastery-Process Books
MASTERY by George Leonard (1991). 2159 reviews: 4.6 stars
Leonard was a writer and a natural, mastery person. Besides “Mastery”, he wrote 12 other books mostly within the “human potential movement” category – many are in my library. Leonard started on his aikido mastery-path at 47 in 1970 and was a 5th degree black belt when he died at 86 in 2010.
Being a writer and martial arts fan, Leonard wrote an article on “Mastery” for Esquire Magazine (May 1, 1987); it went xerox-mail-to-friends viral. The article focused on the mastery process and philosophies that underlie martial-arts disciplines from white belt to black+. The article’s popularity demanded the Mastery book which was first published in hardback in 1991.
His writing is concise with great attention to the details of the mastery-path process. His graphs of the mastery path and non-mastery scenarios were - at the time - simple, powerful breakthroughs. And, he detailed for the first time (that I had seen) a number of mastery sub-elements that included factors that will help to keep you on ones that may knock you off. He did not address why so many folks cannot seem to take up and sustain healthy practices. Since then, many other authors have done deeper dives on different sub-elements of the mastery journey especially the internal neurobiological and psychological factors.
For quick summaries of this book: Google - “Mastery + Leonard + summary articles”. And/or, Google-Image: “Mastery + Leonard + graphs”.
MASTERY by Robert Greene (2012). 10,412 reviews: 4.7 stars
Greene is a successful, professional writer. Mastery is his 5th book. While Leonard’s book focuses narrowly on how to become a black-belt at a chosen skill, Greene’s book focuses on how to become an expert in a chosen profession. He details how to embrace the apprenticeship path with good, role-model mentors.
(Too few institutions do a good job at having mentor programs to develop promising apprentices into masters. By example, how many sales managers are coaching sales reps to become black-belts.)
THE SCIENCE OF RAPID SKILL ACQUISTION by Peter Hollins (2019) 852: 4.4
Hollins is a professional writer and student of mastery. He’s produced an easy-reading, summary of mastery-process highlights. This is a hybrid between mastery-process and general mastery-guidelines.
Experts Who Authored Their Mastery Tales
These authors achieved outstanding excellence and then wrote about their respective journeys to share generally-applicable guidelines and tactics. These books will help those who have already mastered the process of mastery (informally) for their chosen mastery paths. But, for mastery neophytes ( White Belts) - “Be like me, and Just do it”- isn’t sufficient. Many cannot (at least with their present mental state) do what they would like to on their own.
EFFORTLESS MASTERY by Kenny Werner (1998) 1288: 4.6
Werner is a professional pianist, so the mastery concepts are conveyed via music examples. He does a nice job on the upfront, psychological challenges of getting over fear and distractions to then embrace the path with extra, natural-spiritual motivation.
THE ART OF LEARNING by Josh Waitzkin (2008) 5174: 4.6
Waitzkin was a chess wunderkind, then at 22 he got hooked on Tai Chi and went on to become a world champion. Besides the “deliberate practice” descriptions he shares for these two paths, he does a good job on the - mental, psychological, and even spiritual/zen - aspects of being on his two brilliant paths.
THE PRACTICING MIND by Thomas Sterner (2012) 2455: 4.5
Sterner is both a student of mastery and a polymath. His book is a blend of personal mastery experiences and more general guidelines.
Mastery Overview Tips and Guideline Books
Many professional writers aspire to be like Malcolm Gladwell. Write a summary book on a chosen non-fiction theme that blends scientific discoveries about the topic with entertaining stories. Here are two books that chose” Mastery” as the central theme to then offer tips and guidelines. These will be helpful again- to those who are already conscious achievers. But, for too many, these books will expand only their “Know-How” and “Know-What” knowledge and not help to address their “Cannot-Do” emotional and mental brakes.
PEAK PERFORMANCE by Stulberg and Magness (2017) 2109: 4.6
An excellent overview on the science of how to practice to excel at most any endeavor. Malcolm Gladwell popularized a flawed idea of 10,000 hours of practice to achieve excellence. This book explains how you must practice correctly, in multiple ways.
PEAK by Ericsson and Pool (2016) 3416: 4.6
Anders Ericsson is the academic who pioneered research on “deliberate practice” and first published about it in 1993. From that paper, Gladwell picked up and misconstrued the “10,000 hour rule”. Anders finally got a co-writer to help him write the full-evolved story in an accessible read with this book: Peak. Peak Performance (above) includes Anders’ research and much more.
THE LITTLE BOOK OF TALENT (52 Tips..) by Daniel Coyle (2012) 2087: 4.6
Coyle is a professional writer. He published two sports related books before this one. He takes three chronological stages of mastery – getting going, improving, and sustaining – and spreads 52 tips for excelling across these three stages.
MIND GYM by Gary Mack (2001) 2298: 4.6
This book is dated by its sports hero choices, but it does offer 40 bite-size, timeless guidelines for improving the inner, mental game for those who are striving. I wish I had this book at 13! it’s a great read for any ambitious teenager (esp. athletes).
THE STOIC MINDSET by Mark Tuitert (2024) 19:4.2
Tuitert is a retired, Dutch gold-medal, speed-skater who is now a celebrity, self-help speaker. This formula book is, however, an easy, quick read that gets across 10 guidelines that the Stoics (and every other, achievement-oriented philosopher) has known since recorded time. Like Mind Gym – a great read for ambitious teenage athletes.
Neurobiology for Rewiring Neural Pathways for Skills
Whenever we do anything automatically - without thinking about it (unconscious competence) - we can do so because these activities are hardwired in our brains by “neural pathways”. If we want to improve old habits or create new ones, we must do so via repetitive practice to use new neurons for “wiring and firing” together along new, neural pathways. Most of us do what we do well enough to get by. Who needs to ride a bike like extreme performers? But, if we chose to take a skill to a more excellent level, then we have to manage the neuroplasticity of our brain through “deliberate practice” at an optimum pace.
Schools should teach “learning how to learn on your own for life”. And, within that curriculum there should be texts on “Brain Management for New Capabilities”. Here are two books for “general audiences”.
REWIRE YOUR BRAIN 2.0 by Arden (2023) 20: 4.5
The discoveries within the neurobiology field have been non-stop since the early ‘90’s. This is the latest, best, general introduction about our brains and how to: take care of them; and rewire them for emotional regulation and new skills.
HABITS OF A HAPPY BRAIN by Breuning. (2015) 1686 ; 4.5
A general introduction about the key neurotransmitters that help to reroute electricity in the brain down new wire-and-fire, neural pathways
Psychological Flow
Two sub-sets of brain management are: “mindfulness” and “psychological flow”. A key aspect of “flow” is that you become so engaged in some activity that you lose sense of time. (In sports a common synonym is to be playing in “the zone”.) So, when you are trying to improve some skill, you will do it best and most pleasantly IF - you tune the challenge of your activity to an optimum stress level somewhere between 96 to 104% of your best current capability. Don’t rely only on willpower and self-discipline to keep grinding along a path; harness your brain chemistry to practice and live enjoyably in flow.
BEYOND BOREDOM AND ANXIETY: EEXPERIENCING FLOW IN WORK AND PLAY by Mihaly (“Mike”) Csikszentmihalyi (1975) 24 reviews: 4.2 stars.
Mike is the academic father of “psychological flow”. This is his first book of 13; 8 of his books were on “psychological flow”. I don’t recommend this original publication, but it should be revered. It has since sparked an entire new space of research which is covered in more recent, popular books even aimed at specific skills like musical instruments, specific sports and hobbies.
For those interested in performing better on a musical instrument, check out:
LEARN FASTER, PERFORM BETTER.. by Gebrian. (2024) 67: 4.9
For sports, check out: FLOW IN SPORT…by Loekan (2024) 104: 4.6
But, one chap who has tried to make a career out of flow is - Steven Kotler. He wrote two fascinating books centered on flow which dive into the nuances of flow including: the flow cycle; degrees of flow from micro to macro; dopamine recovery; etc. He unsuccessfully encouraged flow researchers to commercialize flow discoveries. So he is filling the void himself with the “Flow Research Collective” (google it to get to a fancy web site selling expensive courses and speaking fees)
For more on Kotler’s flow work and advice:
Here’s a 2020 interview link: Flow and the Psychology of Peak Performance | Next Big Idea Club
And, two of his books most centered on Flow:
THE RISE OF SUPERMAN by Kotler (2014) 2460 ; 4.4
This book stars extreme sports performers who achieve excellence in record time as well as experience “macro-flow”.
THE ART OF THE IMPOSSIBLE by Kotler (2021) 1951: 4.7
A bit more updated info on the brain-chemistry and dynamics of flow with a broader focus than just extreme athletes. He does evangelize a life of big flow v how to tune into micro-flow doing everyday prosaic activities.
Mindfulness: Emotional Regulation; Improved Habit Rewiring
To become more mindful to defuse negative thinking and habits is most people’s first Mastery Challenge. There are many good books on “emotional regulation” for all ages and types. Go to amazon and do two searches for “emotional regulation” and “mindfulness + habits” and rank them by “customer review”.
Habit Management
There are many books on “habit management” at Amazon. Two that are about habits in general (not habit categories like: wealth, health, time, etc.) are “Atomic Habits” and “The Power of Habit”.
ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear (2018) 137,411: 4.8
THE POWER OF HABIT by Charles Duhigg (2014) 39 080: 4.6
Both great books on a sub-element of mastery. Excellent mastery for a chosen skill is often comprised of a number of sub-skills which in turn require many, habitually executed elements. So, the mechanics of mastering elemental habits is vital.
"Atomic Habits" provides a detailed framework with clear steps ("Make it obvious, attractive, easy, satisfying") to implement habit change in daily life. "The Power of Habit" offers a broader understanding of how habits work with less specific action plans.
Neither book looks at “brain rewiring guidelines” for new or improved neural pathways that power automatic habit performance. Nor, do they touch on how to mindfully defuse the automatic negative thoughts and triggered behaviors that keep folks from achieving new or improved habits.
Mastery Virtues
There are many books that zero in on individual virtues or traits that are key to persisting along a mastery path. For example:
MINDSET by Carol Dweck (2007) 22,175: 4.6
DRIVE by Daniel Pink (2011) 8897: 4.5
WILLPOWER by Baumeister and Tierney (2012) 2394: 4.5
BOUNCE by Syed (2011) 3383: 4.4
RESILIENCE by Greitens (2016) 1946:
Many on: overcoming the fear of failure and embracing growth”
Many of these books could have been a long article. So, alternatively google: “2024 article/youtube on (the trait)”
TOP DOG by Bronson and Merryman. (2013) 344: 4.4
This is an entertaining, somewhat eclectic book on “the science of winning and losing”. How good you are at something often depends upon comparisons to other performers and competitors in front of live audiences and sometimes judges. Working on skills in a practice vacuum takes discipline, etc. But, another subset of traits go into being a “mentally tough” competitor or performer.