Living In a Biased World

Living in a Biased World

Malcolm Gladwell

Sarah Kim

285 pages, Little, Brown and Company, $16.99

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       Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer are two geniuses that are equally smart. Chris Langan has an IQ of 195, got a perfect score on the SAT, and taught himself to read at the tender age of three. Robert Oppenheimer was gifted in theoretical physics; he did full adult lab experiments by third grade and was invited to give a lecture at the New York Mineralogical Club at the age of 12. Despite their similar intelligence, Langan ended up working in factories and as bouncer for a bar on Long Island until he won the 1 vs. 100 game show contest during his 50s. In contrast, Oppenheimer was able to take a prestigious lead in the Manhattan Project during his 30s.

   How did this happen? How did one achieve success so easily while the other took so long?  Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, gives the answer to this question: opportunities. Gladwell argues that opportunities and surroundings have major influences on one’s success. He asserts that successful people don't rise out of the chaff simply based on the sum of their talent and intelligence.

      Outliers is a book that made me feel a little better about my own failures. I reevaluated the special Korean math education I received after reading the chapter “Rice Paddies and Math Tests,” and after reading “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes,” I gained insight into the kind of authority-centric society I grew up in. I began to notice the small opportunities that I had, which made me thankful for them. Before reading this book, my conception of success was a combination of hard work, talent, and a little bit of luck. However, after reading it, my view has shifted to a combination of hard work, talent, opportunity, and a strategy to seize that opportunity. Malcolm Gladwell left me reflecting on the special rewards our society grants to a chosen few people and how the world could advance in massive leaps and bounds if more kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their potential.

       Outliers has a very straightforward style with a journalist’s point of view. Gladwell uses concrete examples full of references, research and statistics, explaining every detail of each account of a success or a failure. His opinion is well supported by the ample research; however, the examples could have lost a little bit in length. It seemed that Gladwell was supporting his point with somewhat redundant examples written in different words. Gladwell’s definition of success also seems quite narrow. According to him, you are successful if you are smart, famous, and rich. However, I think that you also have to be happy in order to be successful. Are Asian students really successful in math if they are constantly pressured by the competition of their high achieving peers? Is Robert Oppenheimer truly successful even if he tried to kill his tutor because he was unsatisfied with the education he received? I believe how successful you are also depends on how happy you are, and Gladwell failed to include happiness in his definition of success.

     However, in general, the book is laid out well. It leads readers smoothly to his main point: Intelligence and personality traits aren’t everything when it comes to success. He successfully explains new theories, such as the Matthew Effect and the theory of plane crashes, to readers who may not have previously encountered these theories, much less thoroughly understood them. He also analyzes a well-known theory - 10,000 hours of work are required to master any skill - through a fresh perspective, thus making the book original and less cliché in comparison to other stories of success.

     Outliers succeeds in not presenting itself as a typical story of how successful people worked so hard or how smart they were, thus making it different and special. Readers could efficiently use the suggestions and information Gladwell offers and achieve excellence themselves. I would classify the book Outliers as an outlier itself, because it gives readers a new insight into success.