Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that is a mixture of different stories around the world that fit the definition of being an "Outlier." the definition of an outlier is 'something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body.' throughout the book, different people and groups give their life story that seems to make them a true outlier and how they reached their "story of success." these tales range from China to Africa to the United States all connected by how they reached success. For example, the book opens up with a chapter on the "Roseto Mystery" a town where "these people were dying of old age. That’s it." (Page 3) this town had virtually no one showing any signs of heart disease, high cholesterol and there was no alcoholism, no drug addiction and a low crime rate (page 7). The researchers found that the secret to long living wasn't in their drinking water, or in their genes, it was the town itself. (Page 9) the whole presence of the town was what occurred to make people live longer and to just live a happy life.
"Those three things- autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward- are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying." (Page 150) at first, I didn't comprehend this statement. However, it became clearer to me as I analyzed it. What this statement means to me is that you must enjoy what you are doing in life to actually succeed. After you achieve this and give out hard work and effort, reward will come your way. I can connect to this reasoning easily. I always think of school whenever I hear "effort" or "success" and I can connect to that on many levels. For example, throughout this school year I seem to have at least one or two tests or quizzes within that week. I have first handedly have seen that if I study and do quality work, that effort will reflect into my final grades. On December 23rd 2012 I will have a vocabulary test on 28 words and the definition of each word. I can either A- study for it and receive a high grade and increase my final average or B- not study and attempt to 'wing it' and barely pass. These seem like very drastic differences, but that's the truth and that's how the final outcomes will be. Unless I have a photographic memory then I would never have to study and could ace every exam that is given to me. But, I don't so I will stick to studying.
"The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settles on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours."(Page 40) when I first read that ten thousand hours is required to master a certain sport or skill, I couldn't believe this. I have played volleyball for two years now and I wanted to see how far I am from ten thousand hours. Combining the two months of practice each year for the school team and then the games, weekend tournaments, camps and practice for the travel team I came up with roughly 700 hours. That seems like nothing compared to the schedule of the Beatles that was stated in the book. It seems to be that I need a lot more hours to "master" the art of volleyball.
"The heavily scheduled middle class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences. She learns team work and how to cope in highly structured settings." (Page 105) being exposed to constantly shifting of experiences results in a well rounded child and they learn how to cope when given different environments to excel in. I personally am a person that if I am not busy 24/7 or doing something to keep my mind going, I might go insane. A typical day for me would be to go to school, come home, start my homework, eat dinner, go to practice and then come home to finish my homework. I even schedule out what I will do for the week and plan out how long I will do each task for. I like to have tasks prepared and ready to tackle at that moment.
"Concerted cultivation. Its an attempt to actively 'foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills." (Page 104) if a child has a certain skill, then usually they centralize it and see where it takes them. Sometimes it works out and they are the children that can decide what they want to become for a profession at an early age and carry on their plan. I personally am a person that changes what they want to become when they are older about every month. I cannot decide and my mind goes back and forth between ideas. I literally have considered every profession there is in this world. In the month of December during 10th grade we took the test where it would match a profession compared to your personality and the questions you answered; I received art designer. However, within the 8th grade school year I received photographer and wedding planner. These jobs all connect as an art perspective, which I highly enjoy, but something keeps pulling me back from making a final decision. It seems that if I stick to one job; that is the job for the rest of my life and for me its a little fear that what if I don’t enjoy what I'm doing? Someday I will figure out my future, however that day seems to never arrive.
"It seems counter intuitive but we do things at a slower pace and as a result we get through a lot more." (Page 262) at first when I read that students at the KIPP schooling woke up so early and went to bed so late, my first reaction was to reject the idea. However, as they began to analyze why they applied this method I warmed up to the idea of this. Sometimes school becomes overwhelming and you seem to lack the understanding of the lessons and teachings that are being given. After a few confused teachings, you may begin to fall behind and you begin to play catch up with all your classes. Only a weekend seems to relieve some of the burden of the homework that begins to pile up. For the KIPP schooling, I loved how relaxed the schooling seemed to be. The days were longer not to cram in as much information that a brain could hold, there was more time to understand the lesson and comprehend it to a deeper level. There was enough time to ask questions and accelerate the learning because of comprehending the information and the lessons. It may seem counterproductive by going slower, but in the long run, the results prove how successful this is.
At first, this book didn’t seem very interesting to me. However, I enjoyed hearing the stories of success and Malcolm Gladwell's point of view on how to achieve it. I believe that the most interesting stories were of the Roseto town and the people that lived there and how different family backgrounds factor how well you will achieve in school. I could personally connect to a few stories and while I was reading this book I could voice my opinion throughout the chapters. I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I actually did, I've never read a book that was written in this style, it was a new experience and in the future I would enjoy reading another.
