TOW #8- Outliers

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is a book that documents the author’s research and explanation of success in human beings. Specifically, in the second half of the book Gladwell compares and contrasts the lives, successes, and failures of Christopher Langan and Robert Oppenheimer. Christopher Langan is a man who has a tremendous IQ; however, he grew up only to become a horse farmer, rather than pursue a more profitable occupation. Robert Oppenheimer, on the other hand, played a massive role in the Manhattan Project, helping the US create its first atomic bomb. Gladwell attributes this difference in success to the environments in which the two men grew up. Using vivid imagery and anecdotes, the author builds up the stories of both men, strongly displaying their differences, and how these differences impacted their accomplishments. This helped the audience see how someone’s home life can negatively affect their adult life, no matter how smart the person may be. In this chapter, the author’s purpose was to prove to the audience that experiences have as much or even more of an effect on a person’s future as their intelligence does. The audience of this book would mainly be teenagers or adults who are interested in psychology, sociology, or other similar sciences. This is mainly due to the fact that the topic or genre of the book itself is a little too complicated for many younger kids, in addition to the mature diction. In 2008, when this book was published, Malcolm Gladwell, who had previously worked for The Washington Post, continued to write for The New Yorker. Prior to creating Outliers, Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point and Blink. The Tipping Point is about the effects that all decisions have on everyday life, while Blink is about the unconscious. Although both of these books were successful, Outliers is the most popular of the trio.