Outlander

Help! I'm only about 1/2 way through the book but figured others might have finished, so I started looking for discussion questions. I can find websites that have questions by chapter!!! That's a lot of questions! Apparently some people are having online chat groups where they take a certain number of chapters each week. I can find discussion groups where people just post opinions and discuss back and forth. I can find discussion groups about the CAR Outlander. But can't seem to find just a simple set of questions...there may be some on one site...but I need to pay to join the site...its some bookgroup support website. I'll continue looking but I was wondering if any of you have favorite place where you go to look for discussion questions. if you do can you let me know?

Thanks.

June book?

I'm traveling until the end of June. I have a few books on my kindle that might make a good June book...if they don't work..that's fine...I can go to Borders and buy what we pick. But am trying to keep the luggage in check.

Ideas:
French by Heart: An American Famioly's Adventures in La Belle France by Rebecca Ramsey
The Geography of Bliss: One Grumps Search for the Happiest Places... by Eric Weiner
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.

Annette's take on Outliers

I am writing this without my book because I'm traveling. I also read it about 4 months ago. But here goes:

1. Which chapter did you most enjoy reading?

I agree with Rebecca about the first two chapters...they really got my attention. I told my tax acountant about it while I was visiting him and he started googling all the famous professional hockey players he could think of...and their birthdates were all exactly where Outliers would predict. creepy. Same thing for the top professional really famous baseball players. I also like the chapter that dealt with the "tribal" culture of the hollars of west viriginia/kentucky etc. I've actually bought the book he references "Albion Seed" I have it on my Kindle to read.

2. Were you surprised to learn about the backgrounds of any of the success stories?

Yes...same as Rebecca for the same reasons.

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?

I don't think that he says success is LARGELY based on uncontrollables. I believe that he thinks they have a significant effect. It doesn't change my view of usccessful people at worst they are people who knew to take advantage of what is given them be it intelligence, education, or the uncontrollables. It does make me look differently at people who "fail", that not all the failure is of their own making. interesting. Because you don't want people to use these facts as a "cop out" but....


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'll have to come back to this question when I have the book in hand. But in general I think he's done (or reviewed) very interesting research that holds up pretty well under scrutiny


5. Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not? I definitely would. I did. Its very thought provoking.

Outliers review (Reb)

Outliers

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.

E-mail notices - testing

I think I did it - I changed the settings so we would get notified via e-mail when there is a new post. Let me know if it worked - I'm going to check mine right now!

Jennie

Oh, and we need a book for June! Any ideas? I'm out of school, so I have to catch up with all of you!
Something light and fun and summery? First one to post gets dibs - it should be one that is really accessible so we can get it from the library or order it.