Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, discusses his interpretation of how a person becomes successful, without focusing on a person's intelligence or "born-talent." Instead, Malcolm Gladwell looks at different areas of a successful's persons life that help contribute to their success, such as the time they were born, the hours they spent on mastering their talent, and most especially, their upbringing. In both parts of "Trouble with Geniuses" intrigued me the most because I have a really close connection with my family and this section discusses the impact a family can have. Gladwell compares the lives of Chris Langan, who has an IQ of 195, incredibly higher than Einstein with 150, and the life of Robert Oppenheimer. Langan grew up moving around a lot during his childhood, he grew up with different step-dads that were killed or killed themselves, and then came Jack Langan a failed journalists that didn't help the family often. Oppenheimer on the other hand, was wealthier, he was a son of "an artists and a successful garment manufacturer" (108). Oppenheimer was given various amount of opportunities and was encouraged to handle challenges head on, for example when he was asked to speak about his rock collection to the New York Mineralogical Club.
But when Chris Langan went to college and wanted to change his schedule from morning classes to afternoon classes, they denied it. Langan only has a year and a half of experience of college. Oppenheimer had a tutor, Patrick Blackett, he tried to poison with different chemicals, but was put on probation and still managed to work in the Manhattan Project. Both of these men were smart enough to do whatever they wanted, but because of where they grew up only one of them grew up with an attitude that can conquer the world. This can also be see in the interaction a doctor has with a 9-year-old with a upper-middle class, who ask questions and interrupts when he feels necessary and with other 9-year-olds that are rather shy when it comes to talking to an "authority figure." I found this section really interesting because we often overlook this detail, and it is really helpful to look at every aspect of a successful person to help others improve.
I agree with Spring that it's amazing to see how families and where people are raised in has an affect on those who are successful. It's very interesting to read about all the situations successful people had to go through especially how their family was like, and where they were raised in. It's also interesting to see how successful people were brought up and how they became who they are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Spring, families can have a huge impact on your life and on your future, and the way they raise you determines the type of person you will be. In the case of Oppenheimer and Langan, both had different backgrounds, and even though Langan had a rough childhood he persevered and did his very best to get what he needed. However, Oppenheimer who had everything handed to him, took that for granted and was not as successful.
ReplyDeleteLike Spring this chapter really interested me because family is everything to me. I believe the closer one is to their family the greater one's chances are of being successful. Of course this is not always true because some people thrive even without the support of their families. However, in this book we have learned that no one makes it on their own. In order to get 10,000 hours in of practice we must have a support system. Chris Lagan is the perfect example of how family can affect one's future success. Despite his 195 IQ, he did not reach a high level of success because of the dysfunctional environment he grew up with no in his life or background to help him take advantage of his exceptional gift.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Spring, that this section was really interesting. I always believed that one has to be extremely smart and intelligent to succeed in life. My whole middle school life I had spent working hard in school thinking that if I could be smarter that I would be successful. However I was really wrong because I lived like a robot and never really had fun. I now see how intelligence is not everything and that it pays off to work hard, seize opportunities and not rely only on intelligence. As Gladwell states in his book, a person of high IQ would only consider common possibilities for the use of a brick and blanket, whereas another person of lower IQ would have more creative ideas in mind. This shows how it is important to balance out our skills and not focus only on one think such as intelligence when considering success.
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