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Accelerated Expertise
Speed in acquiring the knowledge and skills to perform tasks is crucial. Yet, it still ordinarily takes many years to achieve high proficiency in countless jobs and professions, in government, business, industry, and throughout the private sector. There would be great advantages if regimens of training could be established that could accelerate the achievement of high levels of proficiency. This book discusses the construct of ‘accelerated learning.’ It includes a review of the research literature on learning acquisition and retention, focus on establishing what works, and why. This includes several demonstrations of accelerated learning, with specific ideas, plans and roadmaps for doing so. The impetus for the book was a tasking from the Defense Science and Technology Advisory Group, which is the top level Science and Technology policy-making panel in the Department of Defense. However, the book uses both military and non-military exemplar case studies. It is likely that methods for acceleration will leverage technologies and capabilities including virtual training, cross-training, training across strategic and tactical levels, and training for resilience and adaptivity. This volume provides a wealth of information and guidance for those interested in the concept or phenomenon of "accelerating learning"― in education, training, psychology, academia in general, government, military, or industry.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 8, 2021
This is not an easy book to read, mostly because it is written for other organisational psychologists/military training program designers/serious expertise researchers. It is not intended for the layperson.
That said, this is likely the most comprehensive snapshot of research on accelerated expertise available to us today. It is also the most complete accounting of Naturalistic Decision Making training methods as of 2021 (though, from conversation with some of the researchers, I hear it is still not exhaustive).
Of course, that isn’t the purpose of the book. The book was prepared for the Department of Defence and documents a) everything that is known about accelerating expertise and b) lays out a research program to fill in gaps in the evidence base.
I think the most useful part is the final quarter of the book, where the authors lay out examples of actual accelerated expertise training programs, articulate a unifying theory, and then explain the general structure one should undertake to create such training programs.
It is a really good book. 5 stars, not because of the way it is written, but because of what it represents: the only complete, explicated resource on expertise acceleration available to us today.
That said, this is likely the most comprehensive snapshot of research on accelerated expertise available to us today. It is also the most complete accounting of Naturalistic Decision Making training methods as of 2021 (though, from conversation with some of the researchers, I hear it is still not exhaustive).
Of course, that isn’t the purpose of the book. The book was prepared for the Department of Defence and documents a) everything that is known about accelerating expertise and b) lays out a research program to fill in gaps in the evidence base.
I think the most useful part is the final quarter of the book, where the authors lay out examples of actual accelerated expertise training programs, articulate a unifying theory, and then explain the general structure one should undertake to create such training programs.
It is a really good book. 5 stars, not because of the way it is written, but because of what it represents: the only complete, explicated resource on expertise acceleration available to us today.
April 10, 2016
Excellent book on an evolving topic
Well written and practical. Many excellent ideas and thoughts, however prior knowledge of concepts such as recognition primed decision-making is necessary to fully appreciate the content.
Well written and practical. Many excellent ideas and thoughts, however prior knowledge of concepts such as recognition primed decision-making is necessary to fully appreciate the content.
February 18, 2019
Good summary and overview of high performance training. Suffers from its reluctance to discuss it’s roots in the “Super Learning” concepts developed in the USSR and Bulgaria and imported to the US during the 1970s, where many concepts were experimented and integrated into special operations and intelligence training. Seems precious to try and distance the current academic field of inquiry from its roots in “accelerated learning” where much of the practical underpinnings were developed, notwithstanding the Anthony Robbins et alia who came before many of the young Ph.Ds parroting the same language pioneered originally in the Soviet Union and Bulgaria as part of a national effort to improve the performance of military personnel and Olympic athletes.
Still a good overview.
Still a good overview.
October 31, 2024
Most of the book is a review of the nature and history of Accelerated Expertise, and I guess given its intended audience, it needs to be.
The reason I personally sought out this book was to craft my own algorithm for speeding up my own acquisition of novel skills and the book does provide this in 3 chapters specifically.
Would definitely recommend this book as a way to understand the literature around skill acquisition in complex arenas more generally.
The reason I personally sought out this book was to craft my own algorithm for speeding up my own acquisition of novel skills and the book does provide this in 3 chapters specifically.
Would definitely recommend this book as a way to understand the literature around skill acquisition in complex arenas more generally.
October 17, 2022
It’s so hard to summarize this book. It’s swarmed with insights about learning and about how one should approach a field – if he wants to master it.
The authors of Accelerated Expertise: Training for High Proficiency in a Complex World share findings from many different studies and research papers in relation to capturing knowledge and later using the insights so one can become proficient in the field.
A lot of the work in the book is related to the military – as it’s funded by the US Department of Defense. But the lessons are easily convertible to practically any field.
What I’m probably missing is a clear, one-page structure of what a person should focus on if he wants to become highly proficient in a field. Not that you can’t derive your own cheat sheet (like I did in my summary), but it would have been a nice addition to the material.
Personally, I think that the most useable. The most important part of the text – which is quite frequently mentioned – is that one should engage in the most difficult cases in the domain he’s looking to master if he wants to speed up proficiency. However, hard-to-handle cases are not simply waiting to be tackled. You should do your own research to find what top performers were mainly struggling with while they were climbing the peak. Then, gradually tackle these cases.
Key takeaway:
Motivation is often overlooked in achieving expert performance. Since your progress will be slow and practically non-existent at first, it will be tempting to quit. You’ll say that “this is not worth it.” I think that if you want to become good at something, you first need to work on your motivation – to keep the fire burning.
Read the full summary:
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...
The authors of Accelerated Expertise: Training for High Proficiency in a Complex World share findings from many different studies and research papers in relation to capturing knowledge and later using the insights so one can become proficient in the field.
A lot of the work in the book is related to the military – as it’s funded by the US Department of Defense. But the lessons are easily convertible to practically any field.
What I’m probably missing is a clear, one-page structure of what a person should focus on if he wants to become highly proficient in a field. Not that you can’t derive your own cheat sheet (like I did in my summary), but it would have been a nice addition to the material.
Personally, I think that the most useable. The most important part of the text – which is quite frequently mentioned – is that one should engage in the most difficult cases in the domain he’s looking to master if he wants to speed up proficiency. However, hard-to-handle cases are not simply waiting to be tackled. You should do your own research to find what top performers were mainly struggling with while they were climbing the peak. Then, gradually tackle these cases.
Key takeaway:
Motivation is often overlooked in achieving expert performance. Since your progress will be slow and practically non-existent at first, it will be tempting to quit. You’ll say that “this is not worth it.” I think that if you want to become good at something, you first need to work on your motivation – to keep the fire burning.
Read the full summary:
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews