...Author to the book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell’s main argument in regards to success is simple. Our standards for success are not achieved through the efforts and qualities of only one individual, but through environmental factors, family history, cultural background, opportunities, and 10,000 hours of practice. Gladwell writes, “But what truly distinguishes their histories is not their extraordinary talent but their extraordinary opportunities” (Gladwell 55). Gladwell thoroughly emphasizes his claims throughout his composition. He gives comprehensive analyses of selected successful people and dissects their lives. He points out how these people were raised, what opportunities they had, and how much work they put in. Malcolm Gladwell’s...
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...Katie Yang Outliers Book Review Honors Psych - Galovich 10/20/14 Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell often discusses a common topic in respect to sociology and psychology: the unusual applications of research in social phenomena. Since a young age, Gladwell has been an ambitious person. His childhood spent wandering around the university where his father taught sparked Gladwell’s passion for reading and discovery. After graduating from college, Gladwell desired to become a journalist or writer, stating that he wanted to “mine current academic research for insights, theories, direction, or inspiration.” Up until now, Gladwell has authored five books. The reason for his writing is due to his two interests: his enthusiasm for collecting...
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...Elda Espinoza May 9, 2016 Sociology 101 Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell The Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell attempts to explain the reasons why people become successful in both controlled and uncontrolled environment. He uses different stories and studies to explain what makes a person who there are. For example, in chapter one Gladwell says that successful hockey players if born early in the calendar year this will make them stand out physically among other boys who are several months younger than they are. Gladwell says that over time, the opportunities that these players have has help them build up to make them better players. So, Gladwell uses a sociological perspective to try to explain the reasons for people's success. Gladwell’s primary objective in Outliers is to show that assumptions like these are often wrong. Gladwell argues that achievement and expertise don’t just happen, but rather they result from a combination of various things and sometimes seemingly superficial factors. For instance, he points out those athletes born in certain months, is older and bigger, receive more attention as kids, and therefore tend to achieve more success in sports. So if their born in January or July it can dramatically impact the chances of going on to play professional hockey, be a professional baseball, or a successful soccer player any where in the world. This can also be seen in a classroom setting, where the older kids in the class often test better than younger students....
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...Through multiple cases, Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” challenges the theories that success is self-made. He discovers hidden advantages and opportunities that allowed for people to become successful. He defines an outlier as “a person who doesn't fit into our normal understanding of achievement”, and attempts to convince the reader these outliers are beneficiaries or extraordinary opportunity and special circumstances. Part one of “Outliers” is centered around “The Matthew Effect”, stemming from the Bible, as in Matthew, one of the disciples just happened to be at the right place, right time, when Jesus picked him to become a disciple. The statistical advantage of time is looked at extensively in chapter one. After attending a Canadian professional...
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...In Chapter 3 of Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Outliers,” the author states “We know where analytical intelligence comes from. ”It’s something at least in part; that’s in your genes.” (pg 101) Now, in Chapter 8, Gladwell is taking a different approach. According to Gladwell, Asian students are fortunate for their success in math due to working in the rice fields, making them hard workers. Despite this, I am sure that numerous people who labored in the rice fields who are not great in math, proving working in the rice fields for long hours does not form intelligence. Usually, analytical skills are related to the parental involvement of being vested in their child's education. Asian parents, as well as parents of other youth, were brought up...
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...Liliana Tenorio Sherry AP Psychology - 3 27 August 2015 Book Review: Outliers Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers explores the societal forces that give opportunity to individuals willing to put in the effort to become successful. Through the events and experiments he has researched, Gladwell has come to the conclusion that to become a successful person you must be given a specific and miraculous string of opportunities that pave the way for you, insisting that there is no such creature as a “self-made man”. He argues that they “are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” In scientific terms an...
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...Outliers THE S T O R Y OF S U C C E S S MALCOLM G LAD W E L L # 1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink $27.99 $ 3 0 . 9 9 in C a n a d a Why d o s o m e p e o p l e succeed far more than others? T h e r e is a story that is usually told a b o u t extremely successful p e o p l e , a story that focuses o n intelligence a n d ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell a r g u e s that the true story o f s u c c e s s is very different, a n d that if we want to u n d e r s t a n d h o w s o m e p e o p l e thrive, we s h o u l d s p e n d m o r e time l o o k i n g around them — at s u c h things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth d a t e . T h e story o f s u c c e s s is m o r e c o m p l e x — a n d a lot m o r e interesting — than it initially a p p e a r s . Outliers e x p l a i n s w h a t the B e a t l e s a n d Bill G a t e s have in c o m m o n , the e x t r a o r d i n a r y s u c c e s s o f A s i a n s at m a t h , the h i d d e n a d v a n t a g e s o f star athletes, why all t o p N e w York lawyers have the s a m e r é s u m é , a n d the r e a s o n y o u ' v e never h e a r d o f the w o r l d ' s s m a r t e s t m a n — all in terms o f g e n eration, family, c u l t u r e , a n d c l a s s . It matters w h a t year y o u were b o r n if y o u want to b e a S i l i c o n Valley billionaire, G l a d w e l l a r g u e s , a n d it matters w h e r e y o u w e r e b o r n if y o u want to b e a s u c cessful p i l o t . T...
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