A TED talk featuring Malcolm Gladwell

TED is a YouTube channel featuring people from around the globe talking about what they do, messages they have for people, and even intellectual talks. I happen to remember Gladwell talking on the TED channel and when I looked up his name I got a few results. Below I've left a link the most popular video of his on TED based on total views. If you like it feel more than free to check out his other talks or even explore the realm of TED talks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y

Finished?

Merry late Christmas everyone!

So it seems that at this point, we've all finished the book. Any last words about the ending? I found the last chapter quite surprising to read, about Gladwell's grandmother growing up in Jamaica, and how her two daughters ended up going to college with the luck of getting scholarships. Remember the chapter about how if a person worked diligently in a family business as a clothing designer, it was very likely for his or her grandchildren to be lawyers or doctors? I found that there was a bit of a connection between the two stories. It's interesting how Gladwell's grandmother and grandfather were school teachers in a church in Jamaica, (here's a picture of the church, probably pretty small inside for classes) and through a series of extremely fortunate events, Gladwell's mother was able to get a higher education and could give himself a chance at success as well, as a writer.

I guess at this point we can move on to individual free reading, unless you guys want to continue as a group with a new book.

Section 2 Of Reading

I meant to comment earlier on part 2 of the reading but for some reason I could not figure out how to post. Anyway, I really enjoyed this section, especially the topic of geniuses and people with high IQ's. I have a fascination with people that are this smart, and I think society does as well. However, Gladwell's explanation of these geniuses do not seem nearly as fascinating as you would expect. I loved this section of the reading due to the relatively simple explanation Gladwell makes for the success, or lack of, for geniuses with abnormally high IQ's. Depending on if these geniuses grew up in household where speaking one's mind was encouraged and social skills were developed early on, then of course they would be successful due to the amount of intellect AND social skills that they possess. But, depending on their background, like Chris Langan, who obviously was not raised in a stable household, and learned early on not to trust adult figures. It's actually pretty sad to think that such a profoundly intelligent mind could go to waste just because Langan did not have virtually any social skills that could have kept him in college.

Part Two: Legacy - Thoughts?

I'm finding that part two isn't as interesting as the first part, probably because it doesn't relate to me as much. What do you think about that? Some of it is still interesting though. The Power Distance Index was new to me.

When I started reading part two, I was a little confused. What do the shoot-outs Harlan, Kentucky have to do with being outliers? What were your initial thoughts about the section? Did you already understand what the connection was?

Part Three Reading

Still waiting on you guys to hear what you think about part two. For next class, how about we read up to page 158? That's the end of Part One in the book.

So what did you think about Chris Langan? (Here's a picture of the guy.) I found it surprising how his life was carried out. Starting out living in a trailer park, only having a year and a half of college education, being ignored by the professors, and yet he has an extremely high IQ and could be considered a genius. Do you find that he led a successful life so far? Although he says he's content at the moment, living in Missouri on a horse farm, he sounded defensive when he boasted that he was smarter than anyone he met before. I think that he seems happy, but at the same time he doesn't feel complete. Just being smart won't get anyone to one of the best jobs in existence. He still might have a chance at success, but that will require help from others and possibly a Hamburg opportunity.

60 Minutes-November 25

This is a section from the show 60 Minutes that my mom actually showed me that is about Malcolm Gladwell's newest book and I STRONGLY urge you to watch it cause it's really neat. There is also another 2 minute interview about Outliers as well.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malcolm-gladwell-power-of-the-underdog/

Section Two

How about we read up to Chapter 5 next? That's up to page 115 in my book. Have a good weekend, whether it'll snow, rain, or whatever will happen!