Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In the introduction Gladwell tells the story of Italian immigrants who settled Roseto, Pa. These isolated people lived to old age with little disease and a Dr. Wolf finally concludes that they live so long because of their community. Gladwell says "the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are." His goal with this book is to "do for our understanding of success what Stewart Wolf did for our understainding of health."

Part I Opportunity

Chapter 1 The Matthew Effect.

When we asked about someone's success we usually want to know what the person is like. Gladwell says we mistakenly assume that personal qualities explain why a person is successful. Gladwell says, "I want to convine you that these kinds of personal explanations of success don't work. People don't rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage. The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariable the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in aways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up. The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine. It's not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't."

l