Sarah Elizabeth Lewis

A very well composed and immaculately researched book about the multifaceted object that is mastery. While her background is in art and art history, Sarah Lewis does a magnificent job of explaining Man's need for mastery, over his art, himself, his intellect, his curiosity has driven people to extraordinary lengths towards the extreme in human endeavor. It is not perfection, for no thing can ever be perfect, once man assumes what he has done is perfect then renewal, progress, and mastery show more stops. Lewis' thesis is that mastery moves beyond the artificial perfection.

The story starts innocuously enough with the Columbia University archery team. Why does anyone wish to pursue something as unrewarding and difficult as archery in this day and age. She proceeds to present their case and raises the curtain on these human's needs to be a master of their craft. She proceeds through to the pain of failure, of public rebuke and humiliation, all essential elements of moving us towards mastery, for nothing ever gets accomplished without failure, consistent and painful failure. She also takes on the very contemporary but very hot topic of grit,as a key component of success and how grit can be both invigorating and debilitating, depending on how one is able or not able to parse the grit and how one is guides towards a healthy relationship with grit.

Lewis has a writing style and knowledge that easily guides us along movingly, as the narrative is seemingly bogging down, her prose and her voice cajoles us along, promising us that there is indeed a nobility to this quest for mastery. She takes us to disparate arenas as sport, painting, dance, jazz, physics, arctic exploration, telephony, amongst others to make her points. She is able to pull the essential points of the lessons from the seemingly discordant subject matters and bring it all together nicely. She is quiet in her assertions and her conclusions, but make no mistake, she is as assertive as a raging bull in her conclusions.

I found the book to be refreshing and just the right elixir for a wandering mind, thinking about excellence in what I do. Indeed it was a refreshing read because it accomplished two things: it challenged some notions and it invigorated my reading brains by the prose. show less

Is it possible for mastery (of any subject) to be found in repeated failure? In The Rise, author Sarah Lewis argues yes--that it is obtained through grit and determination despite the constant pushback of defeat. Drawing on varied examples from archery to dance to physics, these anecdotes add strength to Lewis' premise however, together they can create an overbearing read due to rough segues and overthought that are reminiscent of an undergraduate paper stating every known example to the show more cause. Endurance is recommended for this "atlas of stories about our human capacity" and its stories about the value of the long view.

This volume is recommended for the reader in a world where perfection is a misguided ideal and who longs for snippets of reassurance that each failure will lead to new clarity about human potential.

A review copy was provided by the Goodreads First Reads program. show less

I wasn't in quite the right mood for this book (I've already been chewing on a lot of these ideas, and I really don't get into dance, which made up a good bit of the mastery discussion and took me back to a very uncomfortable ADF I attended in the early aughts), but I appreciate what Lewis is doing here. I also really like the concept of "nimble grit," the idea that persistence is incredibly valuable, but so is knowing when to pivot.

A very well researched book about how many times the difference between achievers and non achievers is the way they deal with failure. Lewis gives examples from a diverse group of careers including dance, business and science and finds that the achievers bounce back from failure showing grit and self control and continue toward their goals. She also points out that achievers take risks to try things with little opportunity for success but are not discouraged because sometimes these risky show more ventures lead to the greatest rewards. My only slight problem with the book is that sometimes she drifts a little off topic. show less