OUTLIERSBy Malcolm Gladwell

Katherine Yancey

MALCOLM GLADWELL

Born September 3, 1963 Formerly a writer for

Washington Post, now works as a staff writer for the New Yorker

Has written four New York Times Bestsellers

OUTLIERS

Written in 2008 Describes the outliers in today’s society and

explains how they got to where they are now. Outliers are not as much of an outlier as we

thought Opportunity, Legacy, Preparation

PLOT

Ten different stories Hockey players Bill Joy The Beatles Bill Gates Steve Jobs Christopher Langan Joe Floam Harlan, Kentucky Korean Air plane crashes Chinese Rice Paddies

Each story has an underlying idea that Gladwell ties together

OUTLIERS IN HOCKEY?

Canadian hockey team Pattern discovered in the major players Can you find it?

Most of all the major league players are born in the first three months of the year!

DICTION

Anecdote with an example of an outlier Historical anecdote Story similar to the first, hints at

connection Begins to explain his idea Gives graphs and studies to support him Explains how the idea fits with the

examples Tie the idea back into the previous

examples

SYNTAX

Easy to read, no flowery language Concise sentences Informal tone, sounds friendly

“If it were not the prelude to a tragedy, their back-and-forth would resemble an Abbott and Costello comedy routine. A little over a minute passes. And Avianca zero-five-two heavy, ah, I’m gonna bring you

about fifteen miles northeast and then turn you back onto the approach. Is that okay with you and your fuel?

I guess so. Thank you very much. I guess so. Thank you very much. They’re about to crash!”

-Outliers, pg 199-200

RHETORICAL DEVICES

Repetition “They looked at how the Rosetans visited one another,

stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. They learned about the extended family clans that underlay the town’s social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof.” p. 9

Appositives “When it comes to math, in other words, Asians have a

built-in advantage.” p. 230

Anecdotes “Joe Floam is the last living ‘named’ partner of the law firm

Skadden, arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. He has a corner office high atop the Conde’ Nast tower in Manhattan. He is short and slightly hunched. He is…”