Introduction) In the introduction to Outliers, The Roseto Mystery, we learn a whole new observing technique. The Roseto Mystery was a new understanding and history of the immigrated and settled italians, the Rosetos. It was observed that the main cause of their death was old age, despite the food they consumed and their unbothered health conditions. It was assumed that their daily agendas and appearances are what kept them lighthearted and happy. I believe that the overarching idea that Gladwell is establishing is that an everyday lifestyle that is established and untroubled is so hard to come by every day and that’s a big factor that stands out and makes them an outlier.
Chapter 1) The author’s point of view in this story is that the hockey team’s players are born either in the same month or early in the year. This may be unfair to younger players because from a young age abilities are observed and the older players have the advantage of being stronger or earlier though their growth so they are given a greater opportunity to go professional once they are older. Are personal qualities the sole reason one becomes an outlier? Not always because as we learned in this author’s opinion is that there are so many different factors to make one an outlier such as birthdate or growth advantage. A consequence of “prematurely writing people off as failures” is that the older and more advanced players or students are given more support to go farther and more attention than the younger student who may need the help excessively more, it’s wasted talent.
Chapter 2) From what I read the 10,000 Hour Rule, is that to become good at something you need to put the effort and time into that field, or for example 10,000 hours. This can include any hobbies or career or anything you are willing to invest time into to be able to teach a peer about while having enough knowledge. 2
Chapter 3) I disagree with the statement that those of a higher IQ have the greatest potential for the following reasons: we are given several examples throughout this chapter on different people with different backstories and amazing things they’ve done. Having a higher IQ may give you more opportunities but not the the greatest potential.
Chapter 4) The difference between concerted cultivation and natural growth is the involvement in parental guidance in a child’s personal growths. For example concerted cultivation had the parents involve simple organized activities in the child’s life. In the story that tended to be the parenting style of more upper class families because they could afford that for their children. Natural growth tends to focus on children’s safety and discipline but it also allows the children to choose their own schedule, which leads to show differences in that child as the grow as an adult.
Chapter 5) “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have any meaning.” I believe that this quote relates to the chapter and Joe Flom because you need to know what you want in order to really achieve something. Joe Flom knew he wanted to be a lawyer and despite all the obstacles he faced, he achieved his dream and became successful in that career.
Chapter 6) The “culture of honor” that exists in the Appalachian Mountains is when irish-immigrants first moved there they fought and had feuds and it became a pattern and scientists believed it was over the protection of their property, territory, reputations and families. It was considered “honorable” to kill anyone who threatened their belongings. It was developed and became a part of their human nature but in my opinion is seems like a non stop cycle of fighting and then killing to just repeat itself.
Chapter 7) Gladwell is explaining that the importance of communication goes a long way. For example in the story the plane crashed because the copilot didn’t express urgency to the air traffic control (AFC). You need to focus on what you want the other person to understand. It can be heard from the tone, speed and urgency of your voice and only because a pilot didn’t want to seem scared in front of his employer and cowor
kers, a plane crashed and many casualties occured.
Chapter 8) The “10,000-Hour Rule” and the wet-rice farmers in Asia are connected because they invest so much timer into what they’re doing. To be a rice farmer you have to completely respect and be involved with your work, much like putting 10,000 hours into what you strive to be better at. It has always been assumed that asian people were better at math and now it is described to us in the story of Outliers why and the science behind it and how that ties into chapter 2.
Chapter 9) The significance of summer vacation relates to many different groups of students, for some it’s wasted time where they lose their school-long time of knowledge and for others it’s grasped opportunities. In the story we learned about KIPP, and the pressure and stress it put on it’s students but the outcome was tremendous. They worked through what would be the average school’s summer vacation, and some students would stay up till midnight on a school night in order to complete school assignments balanced with daily lives. Summer vacation isn’t that significant to this school in particular because it wasn’t that important for them however for other school’s students it is a very significant factor for loss of year long knowledge and puts those students behind the IQ based growth curve.
Epilogue) When Gladwell states “That this is the story of my mother’s past to success – and it isn’t true at all,” he means that the skin privilege from back in his past may have affected his family’s growth in success