Outliers
Zev McManus-Mendelowitz
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell may be the first book that I have spent more time thinking about than reading. A relatively quick read at 285 pages, the book gives an extremely unique and somewhat pessimistic take on success. With case studies that explore Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, the Beatles, Canadian hockey leagues, and Italian immigrant communities, this book aims to convince the reader that the topmost levels of success are mostly dependent on luck. From this main idea are other anecdotes, such as “proof” of the 10,000-hour rule, the trouble with geniuses, and theories such as why some cultures excel at math and how ethnicity influences plane crashes.
Over a month after reading this book, there are two stories that stand out. The first is about Canadian hockey leagues. In all elite groups of Canadian hockey players, about 40 percent are born between January and March. This is no coincidence. The eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is January first. This means that a kid born January second could be in the same league as one born December thirty first, essentially an entire year later. A one-year age difference in kids means a huge difference in size and coordination, which only gets compounded over time. In Canadian hockey, the best players begin getting selected to all-star teams at age 8 or 9, giving the biggest, most athletic kids, who are usually the oldest, the most playing time and the best coaches. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the players selected as the best at a young age are given resources that cause them to be the best when they grow up. This arbitrary cutoff could be the difference between a career in the NHL or just playing recreationally (Gladwell notes that these patterns are less apparent in some sports, such as basketball, because of accessibility and ubiquity). This cumulative advantage occurs not only in hockey but in schooling (older “smarter” elementary students are put in honors classes) and finance (the rich get richer).
The second example that I remember is Bill Gates. It is no surprise that the second richest man in the world, worth over $90 billion, experienced some good luck. First, his birthdate. Gates was born on October 28, 1955, the perfect birthdate to be involved in the tech boom and dawn of personal computers in 1975 – when he was not so old that he already had a stable job and family, but not so young that he was still in school. Second, his birthplace. Gates was born to a wealthy family in Seattle. In seventh grade, Gates was sent to a rich private school called Lakeside. With a large amount of money and nothing in particular to do with it, the school built a state-of-the-art computing facility at a time when most colleges didn’t have computers. Gates became hooked, coding twenty or thirty hours a week. Even as the school ran out of money, Gates continued to code any way he could; time and time again he managed to find new connections that allowed him to fulfill his coding desires. Bill Gates was already miles ahead of everyone else in the field before he had even graduated high school.
A final example, one that might be especially intriguing to Uni audiences, is two chapters titled “The Trouble with Geniuses.” Malcolm looks at scientific studies of people with abnormally high IQ’s. He compares the life of the world's smartest man to a man who was just smart enough. Though the title of the chapter serves as a clue, the verdict is that intelligence does matter to a point. Past that point, work ethics, social skills, and of course, luck take over.
Given that this book was a quick read, educational, and still quite entertaining, I would recommend it to most people. While I wouldn’t consider it a “must-read,” this book still presents interesting ideas that may help with thinking more deeply about reasons why certain people become more successful, other than on the basis of talent or hard work.
The idea that success is so rooted in luck may be a bit depressing, yet one must keep in mind while reading this book that this is one person's theory, offering a dozen examples out of the millions of successful people throughout history. Success is also highly individual. This book uses success in a stereotypical sense--money, fame, power--but for some people, success requires none of these things. In addition, luck alone was not enough to constitute success in any of the scenarios. If Bill Gates hadn’t been persistent enough to code for hours a day, the luck of getting a computer wouldn’t have mattered. If a kid is born January second but isn’t genetically gifted, they won't make the NHL on the account of their birthday. Just as there are examples of people attaining success with luck, there are examples of people attaining success without luck.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell may be the first book that I have spent more time thinking about than reading. A relatively quick read at 285 pages, the book gives an extremely unique and somewhat pessimistic take on success. With case studies that explore Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, the Beatles, Canadian hockey leagues, and Italian immigrant communities, this book aims to convince the reader that the topmost levels of success are mostly dependent on luck. From this main idea are other anecdotes, such as “proof” of the 10,000-hour rule, the trouble with geniuses, and theories such as why some cultures excel at math and how ethnicity influences plane crashes.
Over a month after reading this book, there are two stories that stand out. The first is about Canadian hockey leagues. In all elite groups of Canadian hockey players, about 40 percent are born between January and March. This is no coincidence. The eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is January first. This means that a kid born January second could be in the same league as one born December thirty first, essentially an entire year later. A one-year age difference in kids means a huge difference in size and coordination, which only gets compounded over time. In Canadian hockey, the best players begin getting selected to all-star teams at age 8 or 9, giving the biggest, most athletic kids, who are usually the oldest, the most playing time and the best coaches. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the players selected as the best at a young age are given resources that cause them to be the best when they grow up. This arbitrary cutoff could be the difference between a career in the NHL or just playing recreationally (Gladwell notes that these patterns are less apparent in some sports, such as basketball, because of accessibility and ubiquity). This cumulative advantage occurs not only in hockey but in schooling (older “smarter” elementary students are put in honors classes) and finance (the rich get richer).
The second example that I remember is Bill Gates. It is no surprise that the second richest man in the world, worth over $90 billion, experienced some good luck. First, his birthdate. Gates was born on October 28, 1955, the perfect birthdate to be involved in the tech boom and dawn of personal computers in 1975 – when he was not so old that he already had a stable job and family, but not so young that he was still in school. Second, his birthplace. Gates was born to a wealthy family in Seattle. In seventh grade, Gates was sent to a rich private school called Lakeside. With a large amount of money and nothing in particular to do with it, the school built a state-of-the-art computing facility at a time when most colleges didn’t have computers. Gates became hooked, coding twenty or thirty hours a week. Even as the school ran out of money, Gates continued to code any way he could; time and time again he managed to find new connections that allowed him to fulfill his coding desires. Bill Gates was already miles ahead of everyone else in the field before he had even graduated high school.
A final example, one that might be especially intriguing to Uni audiences, is two chapters titled “The Trouble with Geniuses.” Malcolm looks at scientific studies of people with abnormally high IQ’s. He compares the life of the world's smartest man to a man who was just smart enough. Though the title of the chapter serves as a clue, the verdict is that intelligence does matter to a point. Past that point, work ethics, social skills, and of course, luck take over.
Given that this book was a quick read, educational, and still quite entertaining, I would recommend it to most people. While I wouldn’t consider it a “must-read,” this book still presents interesting ideas that may help with thinking more deeply about reasons why certain people become more successful, other than on the basis of talent or hard work.
The idea that success is so rooted in luck may be a bit depressing, yet one must keep in mind while reading this book that this is one person's theory, offering a dozen examples out of the millions of successful people throughout history. Success is also highly individual. This book uses success in a stereotypical sense--money, fame, power--but for some people, success requires none of these things. In addition, luck alone was not enough to constitute success in any of the scenarios. If Bill Gates hadn’t been persistent enough to code for hours a day, the luck of getting a computer wouldn’t have mattered. If a kid is born January second but isn’t genetically gifted, they won't make the NHL on the account of their birthday. Just as there are examples of people attaining success with luck, there are examples of people attaining success without luck.
This is a very insightful review. You seem to have some strong opinions about luck, and why luck doesn't mean everything. The book seems like an interesting read that covers real-world situations that are quite different but all have something in common. I will probably try this book in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI have read Outliers before and I agree with your review. I think that you do a good job of voicing the areas of the book that you do not agree with while staying pretty unbiased which is something that I don't see quite often when reading book reviews.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your review it seems that the author has a jealous, or even salty view on success. Did you think that was the case? Did the author try to just complain for the entire book? I can be very turned off if I can sense an underlying bitterness in a text and for me it can ruin a book. From what you have given I can agree with the authors points and ideas but I, as you did, would not rule off success as pure luck. Going back to the analogy of sports the sheer effort and time spent to do things like exercise, gain/lose weight, study plays, watch film, and deal with public relations is exhausting to say the least and it definitely rewards people who put in the effort. I really liked your review and would like to hear more about your opinion of the book.
ReplyDeleteYour first sentence ("Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell may be the first book that I have spent more time thinking about than reading") definitely makes me want to read this book, because I love reflecting and deeply thinking about books. You also mentioned the 10,000 hour rule, and I really want to find out the real world examples of this. It also seems like Bill Gates' success is partly luck, and partly dedication and hard work. I want to read this book to find out exactly how much that good or bad circumstances effect one's future. Thanks for your review.
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