“We overvalue early specialisation and under-value generalisation,” states David Epstein.

That’s a criticism not just of the sports world that has been the focus of much of the journalist and writer's previous work, but the world in general, and that includes education.

Epstein explains how we have come to believe that success comes from deliberate practice in a single domain – so to become a world-class golfer, or scientist, or writer, we need to start practising that skill intensely from a very early age. And more broadly than that, we see expertise in any given subject or domain as the product of specific practice within that domain.

This is all wrong, he says.