Despite many in our midst downplaying the role of experts in our society, the truth is that we thrive because people have mastered so many different skills and abilities. We do what we enjoy or do best and we outsource those things we do not want to attempt to them with full confidence that they will know how. Masters of one sort or another are all around us. It could be baking, boxing, the art of magic or drawing or a range of other pursuits that they have spent the time perfecting and bit by bit become highly proficient in doing. The preceding list was among the things our guest, master essayist Adam Gopnik tried himself and catalogued in his new book, “The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery.” He tells us early on that this is not a how-to book as much as it is a how to appreciate volume on what it means to have a mastered a new skill, what’s required and why there is such value in the process itself for the interior satisfaction it provides.  Gopnik is a brilliant writer(and that’s surely a skill), but as an art critic for The New Yorker he leaves the observation deck and pursues mastery for himself, sharing many brilliant insights with us on this podcast.