The World's Best Book Summaries
The Roseto effect – what is it? How did a little town named Roseto show the unusual determinants of health?
Doctors tell us that individual actions, such as eating well, drinking less, exercising, and quitting smoking, have a huge impact on our health. For decades, the emphasis of preventative care was on individual choices. A study on the Pennsylvania town of Roseto turned that thinking on its head. Our communities affect our health as much as our individual choices do.
What is the accomplishment of natural growth? Why is this hands-off approach to parenting possibly harmful to your child? Learn more from Annette Lareau and her studies of parenting styles.
What is the Matthew Effect? Why does it determine if someone is successful or not? Learn about why the Matthew Effect suggests the rich get richer, and the poorer get poorer.
Gladwell contrasts Langan’s situation with Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist hired to head the American effort to develop the nuclear bomb during WWII.
Like Langan, Oppenheimer possessed a brilliant mind. He was doing lab experiments by third grade and studying physics and chemistry by fifth grade.
Unlike Langan, Oppenheimer was raised with privilege. He grew up in a wealthy neighborhood in Manhattan. He attended the progressive Ethical Culture School, where they groomed students to “reform the world.”
IQ and intelligence are one thing. But how you apply this power is just as important. There are two types of thinking – convergent thinking, and divergent thinking. Which one is better? Which one leads to more long-term success? Learn more about divergent vs convergent thinking.
What is the relative age effect? Why does when you’re born affect how successful you are later in life? Learn how your birth date affects your later outcomes, because of the relative age effect.
Gladwell’s mother, Joyce Gladwell, was born in Jamaica in 1931. She received a series of opportunities that enabled her to build a meaningful life out of initially difficult circumstances. In the Epilogue, Gladwell looks at the opportunities that helped his mother become an outlier (which led to Gladwell being an outlier himself).
The kind of intelligence measured by IQ tests is called analytic intelligence. But extraordinary success in life is often the result of practical intelligence. Let’s look at what distinguishes the two:
Want to live a meaningful life? Many of us do. But it’s not always clear what a meaningful life is, and how to achieve it.
Learn the steps to creating a meaningful live for yourself here.
Personal growth feels great but reaching outward to contribute to others also is necessary for a balanced life. Humans have a built-in need to contribute beyond themselves. Moreover, the more you help others grow, the more you grow in turn.