A review on the tablet, first of all. I LOVE it. While I've seen people say they are easily distracted by the features, I felt more engrossed in the book then when I am reading on paper. This is pretty interesting considering that normally I found reading on the screen very annoying and difficult. I also have not felt any strain on the eyes, but then again, this is only the first time and it might just be the novelty of the situation that has allowed me to rip through this book in record time.
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| What the app icon looks like |
Outliers is mostly about how our past, including experiences, opportunities, and cultural inheritance shape our successes and failures in the world. The first section is mostly about opportunities. He goes through a list of high successful people in the world and how specific experiences, regardless of how they presented themselves at the time, led a specialization in a skill that was highly demanded when the world changed. It is a combination of opportunities and being born when those experiences were being valued that led to success, not necessarily individual merit or intelligence. It is not to say that these people were not hard-working and passionate. Grit is why they succeeded over others who had similar background. I saw most of this as incredibly true; you need grit and passion to harness the opportunities you have been given, but so much of it is being ready when luck comes around. There really might not be such thing as innate talent and genius.
The second was focused on cultural legacies. This refers to a set of tendencies and preferences that were once necessary for survival in a region that are passed on through generations, even when the need for it has disappeared. It also includes just plain old cultural tendencies that make some cultures better suited for certain professions over other cultures. There were uncomfortable sections to digest, one part which rather bluntly stated that some cultures (he was using Korean Air in his example) are unsuited to the world of aviation because of a hierarchy system that prevented "subordinates" from using direct language in urgent situations that prompt action. The solution was not the common "work within the frames of the culture" but to insist in implementing alternatives, in this case using Western training methods and using English as the primary language. Looks pretty close to cultural imperialism? Well, in hindsight I think that's stretching it a little too far. Circumstances can demand we consciously make an effort to step out of the cultural legacies that we've been born with in order to be successful in certain fields.
He also delved into how society views breaks and eduction. I've always thought that the reason why Korean students work hard is because parents viewed education as the only way for upward mobility. But Outliers suggests there is more. It has to do with what type of crops our ancestors farmed. In Korea, as in many Asian countries, most farmers had rice paddies that were labor intensive and benefited from having multiple rotations of crops in a year. This meant there was very short periods when the fields were idle. The more you worked, the greater your reward come harvest. The school system reflects this past, having as much as 60 extra school days compared to the US that planted crops like wheat and corn that required that lands be at idle for extended periods of time to replenish itself. Thus, the ingrained belief that there must be rest and idleness in order to learn.
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| Cool book cover! |
The writing technique throughout this book were quite effective. He first told the condensed version of the story with many crucial details missing. He goes back and retells the story, filling in the necessary blanks. The first time around, I had my own share of reasons why that person was successful, primarily dedication and passion. But as my preconceptions were broken, I took on this new paradigm he offered so that by the end, I was making my own relatively accurate conjectures.
Outliers had very similar undercurrents as certain parts of give and take when it came to its fundamental view on education as Give and Take. It isn't that people are innately smarter than others; it is a combination of expectations, set by parents and teachers that can stimulate students to achieve. There were some other sections that reminded me of Grant's work but can't recall all of them now... oops. It's so frustrating when I make the connections and when I try to write them down, I can't remember...
I think I'll start on some of James Joyce's work that I was supposed to read in high school, but I change my mind too often to write it down. haha.
Until then,
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