Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.

Publicola, one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic, was “the most eminent amongst the Romans” and “the fountain of their honour.” The Plutarch Primer includes vocabulary, discussion questions, and other aids for students and parents/teachers, plus edited text for Plutarch's Life of Publicola. It is designed especially for those who are new to the study of Plutarch.

Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise—the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.

Now, for the first time, John Ciardi’s brilliant and authoritative translations of Dante’s three soaring canticles—The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso—have been gathered together in a single volume. Crystallizing the power and beauty inherent in the great poet’s immortal conception of the aspiring soul, The Divine Comedy is a dazzling work of sublime truth and mystical intensity.

Did you know Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime and that during the last three months of his life he completed an average of one painting every day?

Did you know that Michelangelo's David is covered in a dusting of human skin?

Did you know Caravaggio murdered several people while he was painting some of the most glorious paintings of biblical scenes the world has ever known?

Rembrandt Is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey is an invitation to discover some of the world's most celebrated artists and works, while presenting the gospel of Christ in a way that speaks to the struggles and longings common to the human experience.

The book is part art history, part biblical study, part philosophy, and part analysis of the human experience; but it's all story. The lives of the artists in this book illustrate the struggle of living in this world and point to the beauty of the redemption available to us in Christ. Each story is different. Some conclude with resounding triumph while others end in struggle. But all of them raise important questions about humanity's hunger and capacity for glory, and all of them teach us to love and see beauty.

The importance of the spoken and written word in Christian culture cannot be overestimated. In this easy-to-follow, step-by-step workbook, Nancy Wilson surveys the major concepts in English grammar for beginners at the upper elementary and junior high level (or even older English speakers seeking a brush-up!). Our Mother Tongue dishes up examples and exercises that go beyond the stereotypical, contrived sentences serving merely to illustrate a point, and relies on selections from Scripture and great English literature to instruct students with regard to content, style, and structure. In addition to a helpful format that highlights key definitions, punctuation issues, and important concepts, short historical sidebars tell the fascinating story of the development of English. Our Mother Tongue also teaches the traditional and extremely helpful exercise of sentence diagramming, which trains students to quickly analyze the purpose and structure of any sentence. The grammatical explanations, the logic of diagrams, and the rhetoric of her examples blend with complementary emphases to create an important classical and Christian text. Daily lesson plans included!