No need to be a genius

I just finished reading Outliers, written by Malcom Gladwell, and found it so interesting that I actually woke up two days in a row and dove right in (I usually read before going to sleep only). The book is based on Gladwell's theory that one's family, background, culture and plain old luck play much more of a role in that person's success than intelligence or IQ. For example, Bill Gates is smart, obviously...but maybe more critical to his success was the sheer luck of being born in 1955, attending a school called Lakeside, and most importantly, being dogged in his interest in computer programming.

Why does it matter that Gates was born in 1955? Because according to Gladwell, it meant that Gates was coming of age right at the time when computers were emerging from obscurity (Gladwell points out that many other major players in the computer revolution, like Steve Jobs, were all born within an approximate five-year range in the 1950s.) And Gates went to a prep school that had a PTA-like group which purchased a computer for the students to use - and Gates was hooked. He was 13 years old and spent hours exploring computer coding and programming - very unusual for that era. So by the time he got to college, he was not only light years ahead of most of his contemporaries, but he also had the bonus of tooling around with computers for thousands and thousands of hours.

I thought the Bill Gates story was interesting, but let's face it - Bill Gates probably IS a genius along with the other fortuitous events. What I found more compelling were the anthropological studies that led Gladwell's theory of why, for example, Asians are better at math. (Two main reasons: Western languages like English have a much more cumbersome and illogical numbering system, whereas Asian numerals are logical and succinct - this means that Asian children learn their numbers at a younger age and therefore get a leg up on their Western counterparts. The other main reason is sheer work - kids in China are in school almost double the time American kids.)

Then Gladwell goes into this whole dissection of rice cultivation in southern China back in the 15th and 16th centuries - and of course I'm reading along, wondering what the hell he's talking about. But the link was fascinating: the southern Chinese depended on rice for pretty much everything; it was their currency. It was also extremely difficult and precise to yield good rice crops, and it required constant diligence and back-breaking work year round. But the rewards were worth it, so the Chinese worked extremely hard. Gladwell contrasts that culture with French peasants during that same time period. They worked far, far less and literally hibernated in the winter - took to bed and purposely tried to slow down their metabolism and conserve energy. (The French were also subject to the feudal system, unlike the Chinese, Gladwell theorizes, so the Chinese had much more incentive to be movers and shakers.) So the theory goes that hundreds of years later, this Chinese work ethic and general frowning-upon of idleness means that Chinese kids simply....work harder.

Sounds crazy, right? But I couldn't help but think about Hubs, who is half-Chinese (MIL is from Taipei). When we first met, I was a little awed by certain characteristics completely foreign to me (no pun intended), like his immaculate closet (I swore he must have measured the hangers in finger-width spaces). He worked 14 hours a day and would still speak energetically to his boss on the phone at night after finally coming home. He worked days on end without a break with minimal complaint. Not zero...just not as much as someone else - ok, me - would have. Everything had to be goal-oriented, even Sundays. (Which frankly, can be kind of annoying - I'm deeply committed to my Sunday morning coffee-and-new-York-Times-in-bed routine.) Sooo....I'll be nice the next time Hubs pesters me at 7 am on a Sunday about what my "plans" are for the day. He can't help it, it's in his DNA!

Seriously, read the book. Whether you buy into it or not, it's still interesting and definitely makes you think about your own life a bit differently.