The Outliers: The Story of Success Review

*I thought we were all going to use one thread, not make separate posts but whatever.

I really like this book. It was all based off of logical thinking and research and these are two things that I really appreciate. Gladwell was able to convey some really good points throughout the whole book. One point that I felt like many of the smaller points was based off of and that he actually kept repeating is that without opportunity there can be no success. When I first began to read this book on page 19 Gladwell says "People don't rise from nothing" and I put a note that states, Jay-Z and Oprah did. But now that I am reflecting on the book I realize what he actually meant by that line and I hold this to be self-evident based on the numerous examples he gave in the first half of the book. Furthermore another point that really caught my attention was the threshold of intelligence point, which is discussed in chapters 3 and 4. In these chapters Gladwell's main point is that up to a certain point a person's intelligence does not matter , therefore one must only be smart enough to able to achieve success. I really like the way he compared this point to being tall enough in basketball. Anyway, the way he was able to prove this was just basically looking at real world evidence, Gladwell compares the lives of Lewis Terman's termites and two people who where rejected from the program. It turned out that the two who were rejected from the program won Nobel prizes and none of Terman's termites won Nobel prizes, this made me giggle when I read it. Overall the book was actually really good, thought provoking and it made me consider all the factors of success that my idols needed and that I will need to achieve the goals that are set. 

Chapter 1: The Matthew Effect

Overall, I felt that Gladwell's Outliers provided a much needed alternative perspective on success and how society sees it. My favorite part of the novel was chapter 1, where Gladwell begins with a seemingly unrelated story about a Canadian hockey player's rise to fame. At first, the story seems pretty simple: a man from Canada who has been playing hockey since he was a child gained notoriety from his hard work and pure talent. But then Gladwell presents a question: Is the success only from hard work and perseverance? When he continues on to present data from psychologist Roger Barnesly on how most professional hockey players are born in January because they miss the junior league cutoff age and gain an extra year of hockey training, I discovered that things can much more complicated than they seem. Because these kids earn one more year of hockey training due to them being born after the cutoff date on January 1, they get more time to get better at hockey than other kids born before January 1. These better trained kids supplied with "hidden advantages" get scouted and turn into professional players.

When I read this I realized that because of a simple issue like a cutoff date, so many kids are being cheated out of becoming something great, no matter how hard they work. Competing against kids a year older with one more year of training is not fair to the kids who had the unfortunate complication of being born before January 1. The younger kids could try the hardest they could but would probably not succeed in hockey. I believe this chapter efficiently set the tone for the whole novel. We needing to stop "clinging to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit." While it is unfair that one doesn't reach success based only on their own virtue, I recognize that other events do play a part in our accomplishments.

The Trouble with Geniuses Part 2

My favorite part of the book is when Gladwell analyzes the children and their intelligence, whether it be practical, analytical, or both.  Malcolm Gladwell speaks largely about children and how and where they were raised. What I find very interesting is when Gladwell mentions the study sociologist Annette Lareau made where she visited the twelve families. Whichever of the two parenting “philosophies” parents use depends on their social class. The higher, wealthy parents interacted more with their children and always kept them busy in classes, making the children grow up to learn to speak up and become more independent. The poor parents did not question authority and for the most part, did not let their children reason and negotiate with them. It is clear why, statistically speaking, wealthy children become more successful. The way these rich children are shown how to deal with others stick with them for the rest of their lives, meaning they will always have the characteristics of a leader, whereas the poor children were never even exposed to these traits.

This part of the novel was truly eye opening, due to the fact that most people, including myself, do not believe that there is a huge difference in parenting when in regard of social status. This novel taught me that money does matter, but that does not mean it has to. I think that parents are not aware of how different children are brought up because of money differences. I think that this part of the book stood out to me because one day I will become a parent and I will have the freedom of raising my children the way I want. Even if my family has a lower income than most, I will be able to raise my children the way wealthy parents raise their family. Generating a low income does not mean that you have to raise your children with the same mentality. I believe that this cycle should end. Middle Class parents need to teach their children to be more assertive and how to receive respect from authority. If this cycle is not broken, these middle class families will always only be middle class families. I also realized how big of an impact parents have on children. Most parents believe that their own lifestyle choices do not affect their children, but they do. With this in mind, parents need to be careful in how they bring up their children. What a person learns early on affects how successful they will be in the real word.

The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 2

I wanted to start off by saying how eye-opening this novel truly is to the boundaries of success and the depth of the actual journey. The Roseto Mystery was an intriguing chapter that gave me a new perspective to look at life from - pertaining to how prosperity is the remedy to a long, healthy life. From that point on, I was already hooked at the book's open-mindedness and couldn't put the book down.
     The chapter that resonated with me the most had to be "The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 2." Malcolm Gladwell brought up some great points as to how "practical intelligence" impacts one's life greatly and it starts from their youth. As he began to elaborate on this, I realized that parents have a significant role in their child's practical intelligence growth. He then used the example of Annette Lareau's study of black and white children from different economic levels, to compare their actual practical intelligence. While reading this I realized her study holds true because an economic level does decide how much time a parent can have in their child's life. Most wealthy parents do not have to work as much as middle class or poverty level parents, meaning they have plenty of time to guide their child or expose them to new activities that their money can pay for. As Lareau explained how the lives of the poor children differed because of their parents' perspective on their children's hobbies as seeking attention instead of viewing it as an interest, it hit me. The middle class students resonated with me most significantly because I fit that exact description. My family expected me to ask questions regardless of the authority figure because that was precisely how you receive the answers you desire. When she employed the scenario of the poor parent at a parent teacher conference it held incredible truth because most poor parents didn't see the need nor duty they obtain in getting involved in their child's education. Now without such a support system or engaged involvement from parents, it makes it extremely difficult for children to prosper intellectually and to gain this power of practical intelligence. I had seen all three of her studies in real life with myself, friends of my own or family members. It made me realize how significant a parent's impact is in their child's life and most importantly their success.