Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a tale of a true american success story. Gladwell uses examples and references to explicate his theory of how to, through hard work and toil, the capturing of different circumstances and opportunities are not far from your grasp. Gladwell's theory on how various individuals from different backgrounds and different fields of studies have achieved their fame and fortune differs from many others. Unlike many of the hypothesis that theorists conclude... Gladwell sheds a different light on our thinking, that the key factor in manys success is neither deserved nor earned. One reference he uses as a brilliant example is the symbolism of the acorn. A healthy and long living tree is not derived from a prestigious acorn …show more content…
Some people are backset from day one as mere saplings. As we see in the story of Christopher Langan, the Who Wants to be a Millionaire allstar, that your early years can affect who you are today. Gladwell sort of studies Langan and his geniousness, with his IQ being too high to accurately graph and his various studies in foreign language. But one thing Gladwell uncovers in his research is Langan’s impoverished background. Through his triumphs in school Langan earned himself a scholarship to Reed College in Orogen that he soon lost when his mother forgot to fill out the paperwork. Chris never stood up for himself, he lacked the people skills because he was never taught them growing up he never had the situations to gain the people skills because of his disposition. When the University turned him away he simply left instead of talking to a counselor or someone who could have helped him correct this dire mistake. That is the notion Gladwell makes in two of the chapters in the first part of his book that how you were raised has a direct correlation to how you interact in your day to day life. He compares Langan to Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the manhattan project, who was a child much like Langan. Both were eager to learn and were labeled a genius very early on in life. Oppenheimer however grew up in a much different household where he was nurtured and grew up in a much wealthier family but had more toilsome adventures. …show more content…
Gladwell ends the first part of his book with “there was a relationship between effort and reward”(Gladwell 149). This is one line from the book because no matter how unhealthy our acorn is at the beginning we can all grow into a larger tree by sheer effort. And we see that in the lives of Y Acosta and my dad who both came from humble upbringings and made a path for themselves in their lives with a little help from

Show More