Outliers《Good examples make this book worthwhile》

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest best-seller Outliers continues to present the reader with unexpected findings in social psychology. Its aim is not to provide a deeply scientific read but rather to entertain (and perhaps enlighten) the reader with some provocative ideas.

Mr. Gladwell’s writing is easy to apprehend and it’s clear he is targeting the the general public. The core argument of Outliers is that success depends very much on the environment and opportunities available – this is certainly not a revolutionary idea (indeed it’s more or less common sense) but Mr. Gladwell provides enough twists in his case studies to force us to rethink just how important this message is.

For example certainly the most memorable example of the book is how there is a high correlation between the month of birth and a person’s probability of success as a professional athlete. Using ice hockey (and other pro-sports) as data research has shown that some ~40% of athletes are born in the first three months of the year (and almost no athletes in the last three months of the year) which is statistically different from the general distribution observed in society. The reason? In ice hockey’s case the cut-off date for youngsters in youth leagues is Jan 1st and when you’re 5 or 6 years old being older by half a year is a significant advantage over your peers (if you’re born in January compared to someone born in the second half of the year). This means you’re much more likely to be picked by coaches (who believe you are a better player) and get better training and more practice – and as a result you do become a better player. A self-fulfilling prophecy at work.

The insight in this example is that an arbitrary decision (setting the cut-off date at Jan 1st) has led to a discrimination of sorts. People born in Q3 and Q4 are significantly disadvantaged but people hardly ever recognize this.

Mr. Gladwell goes on to use other examples such as research in education to emphasize how important it really is to provide equal opportunity. While the points that he advocates are nothing new his examples do shed some new light on how to think about certain issues. And in an unexpectedly personal epilogue Mr. Gladwell invokes his own family story to drive the point home. It is a very moving finale which to some extent raises this book above mediocrity.

http://www.dani19.com/2009/03/18/reading-outliers/