I recently attended a lecture by Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, famed astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium. His starting topic was earthquakes, since the state of Connecticut had experienced eleven minor earthquakes in the previous week. Residents of California may be accustomed to the earth shaken under their feet, but those living in Plainfield, Connecticut are not. This had created some dramatic media coverage. Dr. Tyson’s power point presentation showed a map of Connecticut with red dots marking the areas of the current earthquakes. He then displayed the same map, with the similarly placed red dots, only this one dated the previous year. He did the same for the year prior to that until the audience saw the pattern. The swarms …show more content…
Gladwell prefers to draw a correlation between these men’s birth dates and their success, “And if you still think that accidents of time and place and birth don’t matter all that much, here are the birthdays of the three other founders of Sun Microsystmens” (68). His readers are convinced that luck is a predominate factor in one’s success. In “The Trouble with Geniuses”, he’ll convince them that intelligence doesn’t matter either. These chapters tell the stories of Chris Langan, a current day genius and J.Robert Oppenheimer, most notably known for his work on the Manhattan Project. Gladwell paints a storied life for Oppenhiemer. He was raised by affluent parents, attended the best schools, and eventually schmoozed his way to lead America’s pursuit of the atomic bomb. Chris Langan’s life is one of disappointment and heartache. His mother had been married four times. The most recent husband abused Chris. His family was extremely poor and they lived in desolate towns. A series of misfortunate events led to the loss of a college education. Despite an IQ of 195, Chris worked in factories and bars. He has not made any notable contributions to science or academia. To tie these two geniuses together, Gladwell cites sociologist Annette Lareau. Her book, “Unequal Childhoods” highlights the disparity of success among children raised in poverty and those who are wealthy. For Gladwell and his readers, it’s a simple conclusion. Oppenheimer succeeded because his family gave him a feeling of entitlement, he was able to stand up for himself and developed a social savvy necessary for success. Poor Chris Langan was doomed to failure because of his social standing and his mother’s inability to provide him with