The Lost City of Z -- David Grann ---------------------------------------- 4.5 Stars

So, I am not a huge fan of explorers and even a lesser fan of South American history.  When I was told the premise of The Lost City of Z, I was a bit intrigued but, overall, I thought it sounded kind of like a dud.  Thanks to great ratings and some people saying they really liked it, I gave it a try... thankfully, I was not disappointed.

The Lost City of Z is a well told story about two related and paralleled stories told in conjunction with each other.  One is about a fascinating explorer named Perry Fawcett who explored the Amazon many, many times... he is pretty much a stud.  The other is about the author's quest to learn about what happened to Fawcett; this includes his eventual trek deep into the Amazon to find Fawcett... he is a writer (far from stud).

The book is really quite good for a number of reasons.  First, the author writes in a very accessible and enjoyable style.  Although much of the text is history laden and includes information from at least a century ago, he makes most of the book seem very exciting and interesting.  Certainly hearing about the dangers of entering and living in the Amazon is fascinating (it really is a pretty nasty place...some of the best parts of the book were hearing about how people were injured or died from some of the most creative animals/plants).  Second, the story is quite exhilarating. Fawcett basically goes to the Amazon dozens of times to try to find this amazing, and perhaps not real, Lost City of Z.  Sort of an El Dorado type of place, it is assumed that it will be incredible.  Third, the back and forth way of how he goes between his story of trying to find Fawcett (oh yeah, he never came back from an adventure and no one knows what happened to him... kind of a cool mystery) and also the original Fawcett story are juxtaposed nicely.  Overall, I really enjoyed going back and forth between the older story and the more modern one both about exploration, albeit about very different goals.

So, I would check this book out if you like adventure stories, anything South American/Amazon related, or if you want to read just a solidly well told story about exploration.  It's a pretty short book, easy read, and lots of fun.  Enjoy your own adventure when you get it!

Talent is Overrated -- Geoff Colvin ----------------------- 3.5 Stars

This book has a pretty cool premise.  As you can guess from the title, it's basically the idea that people that are great at things (music, athletics, business) are not really great because they have some natural, innate ability, rather, they are successful because of hard work and very specific types of hard work.

Talent is Overrated really is a great idea for an essay or article...which is where this started but it really struggled as a book.  It become a preachy, business focused book during the last half and lost some real steam in my opinion.  As I said, the premise is great, and the first half of the book really is interesting and his supporting views and data regarding his premise are well told and very interesting.  He makes a great point that people like Mozart and Tiger Woods really are no different than you or I.  They just happen to be individuals that were put in very unique environments, had very specific upbringings, and were consistently following 'deliberate practice'.

Oh, 'deliberate practice', the true nugget of this book.  This is really the best part of this book and why it's worth reading.  It's not so much that people get great and really amazing at something by working hard; kind of obvious.  Rather, they work really hard at doing something very specific, very well.  Remember, the old saying, "perfect practice makes perfect"?  Well, that's the idea.

You should really read the book to get the full description of it, but deliberate practice is what is separating you, yes you, from Tiger Woods.  Well, that and probably a few other things that it's way too late to fix.  Basically, when you go hit balls at the range or learn how to do some other activity, you are , probably having 'fun' when you try to get better.  You hit a few balls, think about your shot, hit differently, then do it all again.  That's nice, not even close to deliberate practice.  You nee to read the book to find out more about it, but be forewarned, there is the reason you are not a famous at ___________.  It's really, really hard and to be the best, it will probably take up pretty much all your time... sorry for the downer conclusion.

Overall, it's a pretty cool book with a great premise.  The first half is very interesting and will certainly carry you through less interesting second half.  If you are curious about ways to change people in business and work on organizational things like that, the second half is okay. It's got some cool ideas about how to have people focus on intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations and things like that.  I was a bit disappointed just because it was so obviously a 'business' book and it was not marketed that way.