Students, I hope you are enjoying a much needed respite from classes. I also trust that you are finding Outliers both interesting and thought provoking. (I can't wait to discuss it in class!) As I said, your only HW this week is to read that book and to discuss it with your classmates. Each of you will be responsible for posting a two-to-three hundred word response to the book here at least once (although you can feel free to do so more). Be sure to refer to a specific passage in your post, and explain why you chose it. You can ask a question, make a connection, comment on style or content, etc. Then, you will respond to at least TWO of your classmates' posts. Initial posts should be made no later than Sunday, and your responses are due on Monday night. Enjoy the book and the rest of the week.
The passage in going to be talking about is on page 69 and its "the trouble with Geniuaes, Part 1" and pt.2
ReplyDeleteI really liked these two chapters in particular focusing on the story of Chris Langan. I think what the author was trying to show about Langan is that his intellectual superiority has not only been a positive, but actually a burden in his life. Not so much a heavy burden, but even being genius Lanagn still struggles to navigate the world like "normal" people would. I also found it interesting how Langan isn't the type of guy you'd think of when you think of geniuses. He lives and works on a farm and he doesn't take unnecessary risk because of iOS intelligence (ex, his appearance on the show 1vs100). With the expanse of his knowledge he could have possibly taken home more than what he accumulated when he left, but instead he went about his way with the amount of money he had. It's not simply his high IQ that makes him an outlier. In a way his ability to foresee that he could have possibly lost all his winnings even with all his intelligence showed that it's simply more than having a brilliant mind, but actually using that brilliance in ways that are not expected of you. Also Gladwell at the end of both chapters states that no one successful gets there alone even if it may appear that way. I thought that was important because this idea of people coming from nothing to something all in their own is idolized but it's not entirely true in its meaning. I liked this part of the book. Overall the book was fine.
I agree Keyonte,that the author made a great point when mentioning how success is not individualized. I agree that we see the people who turned from rags to riches, as having done it all by themselves. It turns out that there are several other factors that helped them out, and many of those things were becoming the outliers of their society. Outlier is such a strong word but for their case it was not a negative difference, they were simply different in order to pursue an unconventional life, which eventually lead them to the path of success.
DeleteI agree with Keyonte and Hernan. But I really like this part of the book too because Gladwell is showing us very plainly that intelligence does not correspond with success. I also thought it was funny how in this chapter two students that took Terman's test and got rejected, went on to win Nobel Prizes and none of the students that got accepted won Nobel prizes.
DeleteThe book, "Outliers",opens up with the chapter regarding the Roseto Mystery. Immediately I noticed that the author uses a different format when introducing the chapter. For example the Introduction includes a quote which resonates with the chapter's main idea, and to open up the book, Outlier is defined as in a dictionary. I love this format, as every chapter includes a quote which makes you analyze and take meaning into the points made in every chapter. I loved the story of how Roseto evolved through all the immigrants that came and soon bonded together in the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania. What is even more remarkable is that Roseto was unknown to America and the world. It is an outlier, which makes the introduction a perfect beginning to the stories of other outliers that defied their status and made their lives full of success, when initially their existence was never known. The fact that Roseto barely had early age deaths and people suffering from heart attacks was astonoshing, considering heart attacks were an epidemic and deaths were happening at a high rate. When the studies are made by the doctor Wolf, he realizes that the people of Roseto are not exercising daily or are eating any differently than all other Americans. So, he studies the community and sees that the brotherhood and union between all Roseto people, could be the factor. All respect each other, they are all genuine in their actions, and basically they all take care of each other. Most importantly the wealthy were not showing off their wealth and instead were helping their fellow citizens. The story of Roseto helps confirm that as in the success that Roseto experienced in health could also happen to each of us in the success of life. our surroundings are important to our success, the people we grew up with and have socialized can make the difference in each person's life as in their culture and family traditions. Most importantly the true makeup of success has long been an outlier, as we value individual skills and traits, over the surroundings and experiences that their world exhibited to them.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that all of Lewis Terman's termites were men. I know this is probably not a surprise given the time in which the study began but I am pretty sure there were gifted young women in 1921.
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