TOW 7: Outliers part 2

Since my last post about Gladwell’s book Outliers some of the ideas differ.  The ideas switch from those of pure work, like his 10,000 hours idea, to that of prior circumstances.  He lists one of the main attributes to success as being your heritage.  An example he gives of this is why Asians are so good at math.  The first reason he gives is linguistic.  Where as English words for numbers are complex and long Chinese terms are short and simple.  A word like seven is qi.  This difference allows a longer numerical memory.  Secondly, the simplicity in the names makes it easier.  Instead of numbers like fifteen they are literally one-ten-and-five.  This makes concepts much simpler to grasp.  The next thing he cites is the culture.  Asian cultures grew growing rice, a much more labor-intensive job than wheat.  This culture of more work holds firm and is not just a stereotype but also a cultural trait.  All of this information is drawn from great sources and compiled by Gladwell into another award winning book.  It is also a way of sharing insight into his view on how success forms itself.  One way, besides his anecdotes, that Gladwell does this is through his appeals to authority.  One thing about Gladwell’s writing is that it gives little new information, it is more the compilation of other scientist theories and experiments into one mass theory.  One thing that Gladwell constantly does to get his point across is to say that these aren’t simply his ideas but he gives credit where it is due.  He utilizes the resources of many scientists in a way that he can put their ideas together to make a whole.  In using all of these strong sources he is also strengthening himself, because it is not simply one man’s theory, but the compilation of many scientists results.