Robert Greene’s work on Mastery is a masterpiece in itself — a complete look into what it takes to achieve the pinnacle of human potential.

Greene is a master researcher, the singular skill that makes his books tower above others (literally). He has mentioned (podcast) that he spends a year reading before he even begins to write a book. This year is devoted to intense study, going through every conceivable piece of literature, developing ideas and piecing together bits of information. Using his notecard system, he then compiles thousands of note cards into stacks of knowledge; these stacks usually become chapters.

Months of endless refining would reveal a masterwork. Ryan Holiday would call them perennial sellers, books that endure the test of time.

Forged from the hands of a master is the premiere book on mastery itself. Better than Outliers and more thorough than Talent, it is a full discourse into supreme intelligence: the power that emanates from those who are masters.

Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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