So far I've read to chapter four and many thoughts came to my mind. Actually I was somewhat reluctant to read this book because I thought it is in the category of 'self-development books' which I hate the most. Reading the book, I soon noticed that this book is a more of socioeconomic books not self-development books. It was about the success and the people who succeeded and the reason they succeeded. Its main argument is that the success is from not the person himself/herself but where he/she lived, when he/she was born and what environment did he/she lived lived through.'Outliers' has succeeded to persuade me about half, but left half unpersuaded.
Those factors Malcom indicated all compose one's success 'at now'. It is true that Bill Gates couldn't found Microsoft if Bill Gates was born in the house can't afford the expensive computer. However that doesn't mean the environment rules the success. If the conditions of Bill Gates at that moment were given to other person, can s/he also achieve the same success? Well it doesn't seem so. Suppose Bill Gates succeeded finally under completely different situation. Malcom Gladwell will now analyze Bill Gate's success and then point out his reason of success as 'the different situation'. Is it making any sense? Malcom is making a logical fallacy called Post hoc ergo propter hoc, meaning a happens first to b so a causes b. With this logic everything can be a reason for the success and making a perfect sense.
In short, Malcom successfully found the secret behind one's success, but failed to do to a general success. So the secret is meaningless and unusable. I don't know my point explained properly, I hope you get it.
I get some of it, and I also have the same hesitations to accept Gladwell's logic at 100%. I like his research and how he illustrates it, and the points he makes are very valuable. But I agree. Bill Gates is extraordinary, and it wasn't just a matter of luck. I think there is also a magic DNA ingredient that Gladwell is not addressing. Is ambition something taught or is it natural to some people as part of their DNA? I think it is. If Bill Gates had been born into a poor family in 1850, I firmly believe he would have gone on to contribute something to something and we'd still know who he is.
답글삭제However, I think this book is very useful to you guys, and maybe you especially. Highschool students need to think more deeply about who they are and where they are and what they might achieve IF they know, realistically, what the future holds, and what special tools they might hold. You're a computer guy, and I'm sure you know what is going to become obsolete and what not to study. Some programming languages are probably a waste of time in view of a third generation internet. How can a skilled high school student do what Zuckerberg did? What's next?
Good stuff. Keep reading. Two future reading journals you should prepare for are: 1) You pick someone famous not in book and illustrate how they qualify as an outlier (Gang Poole you already sort of did that for). 2) You take a look at yourself and illustrate how you perhaps fall into this outlier category (or hope to in the future). I think everyone has a bit of outlier in them.