1. Which chapter did you most enjoy reading? I was completely intrigued by the first two chapters--chap 1 explained that success as a Canadian hockey player largely depended on their date of birth--the evidence was quite compelling, and chap 2 which presented the "10,000 hour rule", meaning that a person/group needs ten thousand hours of practice time in order to achieve expertise. Gladwell's claim is that it takes more than just talent or brains to become successful--most often it takes hard work and luck!
2. Were you surprised to learn about the backgrounds of any of the success stories? All of the stories were new to me so I felt surprised at everything I learned! One specific idea I'd like to hear about from an "expert" is the bit about math education differences in Asian vs. Western schools. He begins with suggesting that our English number-naming system is not as logical as the Asian counting system (p227-231) and therefore gives Asian students an early edge on mathematics--it was so interesting I sat there dumbfounded wondering where our English system came from! The Asian system DOES seem to make more sense!
3. Does his idea, that success is dependent largely on "uncontrollables" like luck, timing, birth month, nationality, etc, change your view of successful people or what it takes to be successful? The frustrating part is that he provides explanations for success, but because there are so many "uncontrollables", except for the hard work on our part, it doesn't offer any tools to help the reader become successful. It could go 2 ways: based on Gladwell's findings, a reader might become discouraged in his/her own quest for success--there are no set rules or steps to follow to guarantee success (duh, but still...) and there's no way anyone could possibly control all the circumstances! or, in a personal quest, one might feel hopeful that even though they can't see all the elements in play, there might be advantages that they don't even recognize at the time, that will help them on their way. In some ways, my view of success is now more "equal opportunity." I think this was what he wanted the reader to get out of his book??
4. This book gets as much criticism as it does acclaim. Were there parts that you questioned or do feel he presented enough information to back up his theories? I feel like he sometimes gets too "wordy" and it takes me awhile to follow his train of thought. At times it feels like he wraps it up too neatly with one simple explanation. My example of this is in the chapter about education--he almost makes it sound like "summer vacation" is the single most important factor in contributing to poor/disadvantaged students' low scores when compared to wealthier/upper class students. Again his argument is compelling, totally worth researching, but I'm not 100% sold on that being the single factor. It's almost like he looks for "new ideas" and makes them fit into his book. What would happen if his ideas were researched in a wider field with more depth?
5. Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not? Yes! I enjoyed it and think it offers interesting topics for debate and conversation! I'd also recommend his previous 2 books "Blink" and "The Tipping Point" for an interesting read.
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