Mastery: Interviews with 30 Remarkable People, by Joan Evelyn Ames

“There were a number of core questions that I wanted to cover in each interview. You will find the basic six or seven in each chapter: Do you have a definition of mastery? What qualities and practices lead to mastery? How did you discover your passion for “X”? Did you have an important teacher or mentor? What are the pitfalls on the road to mastery? What importance does luck (or risk taking) play? Is there a situation in which you felt most like a master? Sometimes I ended the interview by asking the person if there was anything more they wanted to say about mastery. This occasionally elicited a helpful summary or a surprise ending….

“Because of my underlying and long-standing interest in people’s life stories, many of these chapters include almost as much biographical material as theories of mastery. Many interviewees give wonderful accounts of how they discovered their life calling, and of the circumstances that powerfully affected the development of their accomplishments. Some of the clearest messages about mastery-its genesis and its unfolding-are embedded in their personal stories.”

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