Gladwell starts of with a story about a young Canadian hockey player, who grows up to be a very successful athlete, and questions ifindividuals like him are responsible for their own success. He claims that people corralate success stories with individual qualities, when in reality, successful outliers are a result of beneficiaries, hidden advanteges, opportunities, and cultural legacies. He then goes on to explain how Psycologistslook at a Canadian youth hockey team roster and discover how many players are born within the first few months of the year, where the age cutoff is,putting them n the older (and more talented) side of the spectrum. He stresses that something as small as age could be a disadvantage, and that succes is based on advantages and accessible resources, not always individual talent. Gladwell then examines the research settled on the 10,000 hour rule. Research proves that no expert rose to the top without practice and no amateur failed in spite of practice. He settle with the idea that only extrordinary opportunity gives a person the chance to become an expert.
Two people were absent in our book club meeting on Tuesday. So Josh and I just spoke about the information we had within the roles we had. And we were given Julissa's paper and we went over what she said. We came to some interesting conclusions and some interesting topics arose regarding the 10,000 hour rule.
Kayla,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your summary and description of Outliers. Considering that I have not read the book and I now feel that I have a pretty good understanding of what it is about, I think you did a great job explaining it.
It is unfortunate that two people missed your meeting, because seeing your understanding of the book, I think they would have gained a lot from what you had to say.
- Annika H
This author definitely has quite the unique perception of success. I'm not sure if all of the weird things like birth month actually have any relevance, or if it's just coincidence. But, he's definitely right about how people often fail to account for certain factors when analyzing results of something. Also, the 10,000 rule sounds like it is probably true
ReplyDeleteI do quite agree with the author that success not only lies in individual talent but also how accessible resources are and whatnot. There can be so many other factors when analyzing something but sometimes they are overlooked.
ReplyDeleteThe story about the young, successful hockey player reminded me of my book club novel "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. Clear was a baseball player who went through a very traumatizing and painful experience that could've ended his time out on the field. There's not much of a resemblance in anything between the two, but it just happened to remind me of this particular moment in my book.
I agree with the author's stance that success isn't based on individual talent because sometimes you just have to find the right things in order to be successful. I also really like how you began with the author's story so I found myself having a better understanding of what the book is attempting to imply. I also really like how you said that an extraordinary opportunity gives a chance for a person to become successful.
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