English plus Upper-Intermediate . Unit 9, p.78 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

Read and listen.

Outliers: the story of successMalcolm Gladwell (author) 12 customer reviews

Description

What connects high achievers as dissimilar in personality and talents as Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, Bob Marley and Marie Curie? Although not equally admired while they were living, they’ve all been described as geniuses – special people who (we imagine) were born with extraordinary genes.

But Malcolm Gladwell disagrees with this explanation, arguing that ‘making it’ actually depends on a mixture of extremely hard work, and the right circumstances.

You’ll be surprised by what you learn!

English plus Upper-Intermediate . Unit 9, p.78 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

Read this! By HappyThinker360

If you think you aren’t special enough to aim high, read this! Gladwell believes that genius is ‘made’, not ‘born’. Since Outliers was published, the magical figure of ‘10,000 hours’ has become famous. This is the amount of practice that Gladwell believes is an essential minimum for success. He notes, for example, that the Beatles played hundreds of eight-hour shows in Germany and elsewhere before having their first hits.

I was also interested in Gladwell’s argument that ‘outliers’ – those exceptional individuals whose achievements we so admire – didn’t just work hard. They had advantages in life, too.

For instance, Gladwell discovers that many brilliant sports people alive today were born at the start of the school year. School sports leagues favour the bigger, older students, who therefore develop their skills more quickly than the rest.

‘Outliers’ is packed with fascinating facts like these. And thanks to Gladwell’s very readable style, you don’t need to be a genius to understand and enjoy it.

Don’t believe the hype By Read&Learn

I’m always suspicious of books that claim they have ‘the answers’, especially when it comes to making our dreams come true. Gladwell has made a lot of money from this book, because his argument seems so simple that people want to believe it.

I don’t mean to suggest that Gladwell isn’t sincere or accuse him of lying, but we should remember that he’s a journalist rather than a scientist. He’s skilled at telling a story.

Gladwell suggests that he’s offering us all a recipe for success, like a cookbook writer. Of course, it’s true that if you work hard, you’ll develop better skills. But hard work isn’t everything. You won’t get ahead unless you have some basic talent, whatever Gladwell says. I could begin singing classes right now, but in 10,000 hours’ time, I’d still be sounding like a crow!

English plus Upper-Intermediate . Unit 9, p.78 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

In addition, sometimes really brilliant people do their best and don’t get anywhere. Lastly, some are just lucky. A century ago, the scientist Alexander Fleming famously discovered penicillin by accident.

The ideas in ‘Outliers’ are fun to talk about. But this book won’t change the world tomorrow.