Comparative Essay On Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

Isaac Singh

Mrs. Melanie Hallock

AP Language and Composition

9 July 2023

Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell Summer Essay People like Bill Gates and Bill Joy are among the most successful people in the world. They are both recognized for revolutionizing the technology industry and making the modern world what it is today. Similar to Bill Gates and Bill Joy, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell explores other success stories and their origins. The stories all had common story lines which included at least one aspect of timing, work ethic, culture, and homelife. Gladwell’s findings are proven accurate by the many examples he uses in Outliers and additional observations.

First Gladwell states that timing and work ethic are key parts of success. This is shown when Gladwell explores Bill Gates. For example Gladwell explains, “If you were more than a few years out of college in 1975 … Bill Gates: October 28, 1955” (Gladwell 64-65). In this section Gladwell is stating that because of the timing of Bill

For instance, “In the West, if a farmer wanted to become more … and by making better choices,” (Gladwell 232-233). Simply put, the western farmer is using machinery to be successful and sell products, while the rice farmers have to make better decisions of time and how to plant because they don’t have access to large machinery. This required the rice farmers to work much harder which caused their work ethic to be carved into their culture. Gladwell then compares this to why Asians are amazing at academics: “And, most telling of all: ‘No one who can rise before’... so perfectly as in the case of mathematics,” (Gladwell 238-239). In other words, because of the hardworking nature of Asian ancestors, it is passed down through homelife and is implemented into the modern world. The Asian population is a perfect example of the idea that culture and homelife are vital to