...Malcolm Gladwell was born to Joyce and Graham Gladwell on September 3, 1963. When he was six years old, his family moved from England, his birthplace, to Ontario, where his father taught at a university nearby. Since a young age, Gladwell expressed interest in reading and literature, and accompanied his father during trips to the library. During his teenage and college years, Gladwell enjoyed conservative politics and highly respected William Buckley and Ronald Reagan (Encyclopedia Britannica). He was also a good runner and won a 1500 meter race in his high school. Gladwell graduated with a degree in history from Trinity College, the University of Toronto in 1984. He couldn’t move on to graduate school because his grades were below average,...
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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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...Synthesis essay: why the revolution will not be tweeted Technology is being used all across the globe in everyday life. With the development of technology, the development of social media became very popular. In “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell stresses that “real” revolutions do not depend on social media to be resolved or started; however, small revolutions can depend on social media or networking. Although Dennis Baron is sending the same message in “Reforming Egypt in 140 Characters?” there is one point that Baron makes that differs from that of Gladwell’s; Baron actually believes that a game changing revolution can occur with the use of social media. Gladwell believes that in order for a revolution to be successful, it does not have to rely on social media networks. In the beginning of his writing, he discusses the sit-ins that occurred in the 1960s. After acknowledging how fast the word spread about the sit-ins, Gladwell mentions that it happened without the help of “e-mail, texting, Facebook, or Tweeting” (314). Social media was probably not thought of in the 1960s. One of the biggest revolutions, the Civil Rights Movement, was accomplished without the need of social media. Also, it is easier to get participation on a social networking site rather that participation for something that is confronting a disgraced practice. Gladwell claims that it is easier for a person to donate blood rather than to protest for a certain...
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...Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's examination of what makes some people more successful than others. These "outliers," as he calls them, are commonly thought to possess talent and intelligence far above that of the average person. He mentions in the beginning of the book that people who are born in the beginning of the years, have a better advantage and has an extra boost of knowledge then those who are born in the later months of the year because the people born in the front of the year has a LOT of extra time to gain knowledge and grow stronger and bigger. But Gladwell challenges this popular belief by looking at more detail of some outsanding outliers. There are five main points in this book for success: 1. When you're born, 2. Timing. 3. Upbringing (how the child was raised). 4. 10,000 hours – it typically takes that amount of time to ‘master’ something. 5. Meaningful work (working hard. Having passion)....
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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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...In the book Outliers: A Success Story, chapter one, “The Matthew Effect”, by Malcolm Gladwell, the author argues that competence and persistence are both aspects of success — along with being born on certain date. In the beginning of Gladwell’s excerpt he illustrates a hockey championship between the two finest teams, The Tigers and the Giants. The two teams compete with one another for the victory. After the game reporters rush the locker room to interview the players. The Giant’s coach makes a statement on how all the players worked hard. From even before kindergarten Canadian boys are playing hockey to slowly climb the ranks. As long as you remained dedicated you were guaranteed a spot of success. Gladwell continues that success in hockey...
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...Haitham Mishal Engl 1A 0013 Prof. Nathan Connolly 28 November 2017 Outliers Homework #5 In Outliers, Gladwell conjectures why a few people have achievement path outside of measurable standards. These factual exceptions, accomplish at levels considerably higher than ordinary effective people do. One could state that Gladwell really alludes to his contention in the subtitle of his book. As indicated by his hypothesis of progress, it is the story encompassing a person that decides achievement considerably more so than a person's drive, knowledge or other individual attributes over which he states and explains in his book. In Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, as most well-known books managing examples of overcoming adversity,...
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...Leadership Webster University Abstract A theory is presented to the reader that there are not any successful self-made people, which is contrary to popular beliefs. The theory is presented in the book, Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), authored by Malcolm Gladwell. The theory is further defined by the premise that holds that success is enabled by a person’s culture, environment, when and where they were born, and a strong work ethic. These theories and examples of success are analyzed using the textbook, Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills (2013) by Andrew DuBrin. Several examples are provided in this paper that illustrate and support Gladwell’s thoughts on opportunity and cultural legacy. Keywords: cultural legacy, success, leadership, Leader Member Exchange Model, in-group, out-group, cognitive factors, behaviors, task-related attitudes An Analysis of Outliers: The Story of Success The author of the book Outliers: The Story of Success, (2008) Malcolm Gladwell, leads us through several compelling chapters of discussion regarding selected individuals who are extremely intelligent, driven, some famous and ambitious. These are the characteristics of individuals that are perceived as being the highly successful members of our society. Successful individuals are termed as “outliers”, people who fall outside the normal acumen of human experience. Gladwell (2008) maintains that the way in which success is measured is wrong. Further, he argues that...
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...In the novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell discusses several key aspects throughout the book that contribute to people becoming successful. Mostly, Gladwell argues that "hidden advantages", "extraordinary opportunities", and "cultural legacies" are the main factors that play a part in a person's level of success. So, due to these particular aspects that help make a person a success, not everyone is capable of becoming an outlier. People must have certain things working for them in order to become successful. A person must have "hidden advantages" working for them. They must have "extraordinary opportunities" that they are able to take. Furthermore, certain cultures have traits that are important in becoming successful, so a person's "cultural legacies" play a large part in the journey to success. In Outliers, Gladwell provides numerous examples of these key aspects being a part of a successful person's life, but are they actually true for every person that is an outlier?...
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...Malcolm Gladwell, in his nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), asserts that although success is somewhat related to innate talent and ambition, the ones who are truly successful have the ability to recognize and seize opportunities as well. Gladwell also states that seemingly unrelated external factors such as birth dates, culture, and environment are a crucial part of becoming a success. Throughout the book, the author strives to thoroughly explore the mystery of success. He reinforces his main idea through a multitude of stories pertaining to success and failure; the book includes stories of the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Korean Air. In the first chapter, Gladwell proves to us that the the birthdates of junior hockey players...
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...Blackmore proposes the idea of "memes," which she tends to describe as imitation of others, and seemingly brands us as memes. However, through Malcolm Gladwell's "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," we are able to interpret as to how exactly memes inspire people and what consequences they bring about. The phenomena of Strong-Ties and Weak-Ties give an apt understanding of memes and their consequences. Blackmore seeming goes against the idea that us humans can generate our own ideas. As she implies "Instead of thinking of our ideas as our own creations, and as working for us, we have to think of them as autonomous selfish memes, working only to get themselves copied"(Blackmore,37). That obviously...
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...In the book “Outliers: The Story of Success”, by Malcolm Gladwell, he reviews the lives of those people who have accomplished a lot and have been successful. Gladwell begins his book with the definition word "outliers”. According to Gladwell, outliers makes some people remarkably more successful than the other people. He thinks that these outliers are usually supposed to have talent and intelligence compared to an average and normal person. Gladwell shows these things by searching and looking at the background of some famous and remarkable outliers. Gladwell also takes an opposite view about how people achieve and manage high points of success. He states that definitely skills, abilities, knowledge and a lot of hard work are needed, and that success is also influenced by anyone. It means that people should look afar individual’s capability, excellence, worth, and value. In the first chapter, “The...
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...the societal impacts of watching TV, playing video games, and communication through social media networks. Bissell, Tom. "Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” They Say I Say, The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing With Readings. 2nd ed. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: Norton, 2012. 349-362. Tom Bissell describes his personal experience playing the newly released video game Fallout 3 on November 4, 2008. Bissell expresses how he played the game for seven hours straight and missed watching the CNN International broadcast of the United Sates Presidential election results that occurred this same date. The remainder of the article Bissell describes the related game content and characteristics for which he expended his time. Bissell evaluates and provides specifics regarding the games atmospheric graphic elements, overall style, and in-game play intelligence. Bissell expresses that he is more interested in video games that tell stories. Bissell evaluates the differences between films and video games by which the player creates the game experience and storyline. While Bissell’s article provides a review of the video game Fallout 3, he also informs readers of general video game attributes that individuals find entertaining and worth their playtime. Gladwell, Malcolm. "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted." They Say I Say, The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing With Readings. 2nd ed. Ed....
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...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...
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...Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”, analyzes the traits of successful people in an incredibly unique perspective. Gladwell attempts to explain how the outliers of our society using statistical analysis , considering and explaining every confounding variable imaginable. A perfect quote from Gladwell perfectly exemplifies the overall theme on why individuals succeed or fail, “They had to look beyond the individual. They had to understand the culture he or she was a part of, who their friends and families were, and what town their families came from”. Though hindsight bias led to me believe it sounds quite logical; reading and understanding Gladwell’s message has forever changed my perspective on success in our society. The book changed my ability...
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