[jimstr]

The book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41795733-range argues a lot for this as well, and goes on to discuss numerous examples where generalists have made the breakthroughs and/or excelled in some way, due to synergy, overlap and inspiration.

[ylem]

I will second this recommendation. It has some great stories about people such as Van Gogh and inspired some new thoughts on machine learning.

[kevinguh]

Thanks for the link, the to-read list never seems to stop growing but that book certainly sounds like one I'll have to add