review of malcolm gladwell's outliers
DESCRIPTION
A review of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers done for a college English classTRANSCRIPT
OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESSA REVIEWBy Andrew Brown
Over the last decade the name Malcolm Gladwell has become synonymous with the genre of Pop-Sociology
Outliers fits snugly in this genre.
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD WORK OF POP-SOCIOLOGY?
Scientifically sound
Comprehensible to the target audience
Entertaining to the target audience
Relevant to the target audience
Well written
“Outlier” is a term used to describe things, people, or phenomenon that lie outside of normal experience.
This book is concerned with people who are outliers in terms of success.
WHEN YOUR BORN MATTERS
Of the seventy-five richest people of human history, fourteen were born between 1831 and 1840.
To become a Computer Mogul, a person needed to be born between 1952 and 1958.
10,000 HOUR RULE
To become an expert in something it takes 10,000 hours of practice
10,000 hours = 3 hours/day x 10 years
There are no prodigies
OTHER TOPICS
Chance
Cultural influences
Class Influences
Summer Vacation
STYLE
Series of anecdotes
Several Digressions per story that explain the underlying factors
Often within the digestions in a story there is other related stories
Towards the end it becomes a manifesto for the fostering of success
POSITIVE ASPECTS
Uses sound data from reputable sources
Covers a subject important to almost everyone, especially budding intellectuals about to start their careers.
Combines research from many sources and uses them to create a fresh portrait of something so basic and well studied
POSITIVE ASPECTS
It written plainly and clearly
It is quick moving and highly entertaining
Provides suggestions to increase the fostering of success
NEGATIVE ASPECTS
Lacks level of proof necessary for a scientific work
Some of the research is disputable
Due to anecdote-based style Gladwell jumps from one topic to another
Read It!
GETTING LUCKY *BELONGS BETWEEN 6 AND 7, PROBABLY WON’T BE SHOWN DUE TO TIME RESTRAINTS
Bill Gates had access to a computing terminal as an eighth-grader in 1968.
He lived a couple miles from the University of Washington as a teenager.