"Pop sociologist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has honed in on a profound new question: what separates extraordinary and average people? Discussing findings from his much-anticipated book Outliers, Gladwell details how we're squandering human potential everywhere from the football field to the classroom - and what we can do to change it."
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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5 comments:
Wow— very thought provoking. Has anyone read the book? I am very interested and would love to hear a personal recommendation. This idea of capitalization rates blows so many long held stereotypes out of the water. It also validates the effects of effort on achievement. I am always somewhat put-off when people dismiss the achievements of others as "simply something they were born with." Very intriguing!
Wow is right....to support true effort we must offer true opportunity. Quite a task we are called to consider. No more wallowing, eh?
Thanks for sharing. I read Blink a few years ago and The Tipping Point has been on my to-read list for a while now. And now I get to add another Gladwell book to my shopping/Xmas list. For those who haven't read him, Gladwell's writing is a lot like his speaking--humorous, focused, and to the point without being long-winded or difficult to understand. I highly recommend him.
I agree- very thought provoking and totally apt per our class discussions of effort vs ability. I have read both the Tipping Point and Blink and I plan on getting Outliers this weekend. Gladwell is an excellent writer and does his research very well - he attributes everything in his books and they read like novels, not journal articles...
I also think there is a lot to this. It occurred to me that the reason the US, China, and Russia,say dominate the Olympics is because they have a larger pool to choose from, so the best of those ought to be better than the best from smaller countries, statistically speaking. This also applies to high school athletics competitions and academic competitions. Now we need to filter those stats with the idea of "cap rate". Interesting.
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