How seemingly disadvantaged children can do cool things and how far a truly determined athlete can go are subjects Coyle has written about earlier in his first book, "Hardball," about coaching youth baseball in Chicago, and "Lance Armstrong's War," about the greatest Tour de France cyclist ever. Coyle, a writer for Outside and the New York Times, has written frequently about people at the peak of their performance.

"I've always been fascinated by that dimension," he said. "How did they become that?"

Coyle found that a lot of what we know about talent and how to foster it is wrong a position he clearly states in his book's subtitle: "Greatness isn't born. It's grown. Here's how."

A common stereotype about talent is that it's a gift certain people have a talent for soccer, writing, music or art. Something in our genes gives us certain abilities, and if you don't have that gift, too bad.

"The way we think of talent is wrong," Coyle said. "It's not a possession. It's much more like a muscle," he added.

Just as muscles can be strengthened through exercise, so can talent be created through practice. Key to how that happens is something that's going on in the human brain the wrapping of nerves by myelin, a fatty tissue that insulates nerves. Myelin increases the strength, speed and accuracy of electrical signals firing through nerves.

Use a particular circuit more and those nerves get wrapped with layer upon layer of myelin, turning the equivalent of a sluggish dial-up connection into high-speed bandwidth, to use an analogy of Dr. George Bartzokis, a University of California at Los Angeles neurologist Coyle interviewed.

So how does that happen? How do you grow talent?

Coyle said it takes three things:

* Practice, but not just endless repetition. He calls it "deep practice," focused, deliberate practice where the player learns from mistakes. Coyle said deep practice puts people in a zone, a sweet spot, identifiable by a scrunched up facial expression where they look like Clint Eastwood.

* Motivation or ignition. For some reason, people get excited by a certain skill or art. One way to tell: watch what children stare at or are fascinated by.

"Ignition is mysterious precisely because you can't force it," Coyle said. "You can't hope it. You can't do much until that moment happens."

* Master coaching. Among the coaches he interviews, Coyle talks to Mary Epperson, the Homer music teacher who has taught generations of students, including Jewel Kilcher. Epperson's a good example: coaches with a wealth of experience almost all are older than 50 and compassion and love for their students. They give little instructions in short bursts. They inspire. They even bribe and they're always funny.

"People like that," Coyle said of Epperson. "They're the unsung heroes."

Like myelin wrapping a nerve, Coyle's narrative goes round and round the subject. He visits talent hot spots like the Spartak Tennis Club near Moscow and Curiel Field in Curacao. He interviews master coaches like Skip Engblom in Santa Monica, who helped the Z-Boys dominate skateboarding and surfing. A lot of the facilities aren't million-dollar academies, but, well, dumps.

"It's just a junk pile," Coyle said of Spartak. "You won't believe this place."

Already, some coaches and teachers have caught on to Coyle's book. He sent out earlier drafts to teachers at West Homer Elementary School. Bill Bell, who coaches the Mariner Girls softball team, has become a big fan of the book. Violin teacher Heidi Senungetuk sent out a mass e-mail praising the book as "a fascinating read that allows a glimpse into how people get really good at something."

It's that kind of grassroots, word-of-mouth approach Coyle helps will get readers excited about "The Talent Code." He's set up a Web page, www.thetalentcode.com, with a blog and links to examples of greatness, such as a video of the Z-Boys skateboarding in empty Los Angeles swimming pools and bicyclist Danny MacAskill doing impossible tricks on the streets of Edinburgh. Coyle also has an introductory video of him talking about "The Talent Code" and even shows him doing Tiger Woods golf tricks he taught himself using the method.

"All of this sounds corny," Coyle admits about the "Talent Code." "I'm a journalist. I want to deliver the news."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.