“there's a book that David Epste wrote called range”
Range
By David Epstein
3 recommend/use · 5 sourced episodes
Every sourced reference
Short attributed excerpts only. Timestamps are approximate.
“range by David upstein think it really critical PM work”
“there's one book which is range right I'm sure like you may have heard about it”
“two books that helped me learn a lot about myself range it's a book about generalist and also quiet”
“he had me read this book called range by David Epstein”
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