1. I believe that the purpose of Outliers is to show that there is more to success than simply hard work or innate ability; the recurring theme seems to be that a person needs support in order to do well in life, whether that comes from his or her community, parents, or culture. No one can suddenly manage to do well if they have absolutely nothing, whether that is in the monetary, social, or emotional sense. They must either be provided with an opportunity that they have the initiative to take, or some kind of background that gives them a strong foundation to build off of. Gladwell does a good job conveying this message, and uses a series of relevant and convincing surveys and data to back up his claims. I found his ideas and writing style enjoyable to read, and will most likely look up some of his other works in the future.
2. My question for Dark Tide is: If people were more informed about the molasses flood in Boston, do you think they would be more sympathetic about it, rather than laughing it off or treating as an insignificant event?
As for your purpose for Outliers, I think you were right on. But I wish the author could have written out his purpose more clearly like you have done here. Although the book does indeed have great lessons to be learned in it, they come off a little jumbled sometimes to me in a way that it almost made it seem like he was telling you that you can’t succeed at all unless you have a, b and ,c. Which isn’t exactly the thought you want to put into the future of our countries’ heads. Yes you can succeed in the world on your own, in a bad economy, but with perseverance. The opportunity will come if you work hard enough for it, and that’s all there is to it.
ReplyDeleteAs for your question, I believe that people would treat the subject of the molasses flood more serious if they were more informed. The problem is no one really knows about it, besides the fact that it happened. It does not seem like a big deal until one knows about what really happened in detail, as described in Dark Tide.
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