The First 20 Hours: Mastering the Toughest Part of Learning Anything

The latest from business adviser Kaufman (The Personal MBA) gets off to a promising start, asserting that the mastery of new skills is crucial in today’s rapidly changing business world, and also for the sake of personal growth. He challenges educational research and influential books such as Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and suggests that most Americans are too busy to devote tens of thousands of hours to mastering new skills. Instead Kaufman proposes 10 basic principles to help students of any skill learn efficiently. These principles draw on rapid skill acquisition (for example, he tells readers to “choose a lovable project” and “define your target performance level”) and provide an organizational framework to help the learner focus and prevent distraction. Unfortunately, the book becomes less focused in the remaining chapters, as Kaufman illustrates his principles through different skills he attempted to learn, including yoga, Web programming, and playing the ukulele. The level of detail Kaufman includes is likely to lose the reader along the way. For example, in recounting his foray into programming, he breaks code down into its most basic components and even installation commands, which is only helpful for readers who want to learn this particular skill. While the overall premise is insightful, the accounts of Kaufman’s own field-testing are too drawn out and distract from the book’s thesis. Agent: Lisa Dimona, Writers House. (June)