Epstein Vs Malcolm Gladwell Essay

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There is one thing that every person wants to know throughout their life. Our destiny and whether we have the ability to make it successful or if natural abilities predetermine it for us. Many different authors and scientist have argued this question for years. Authors Malcolm Gladwell and David Epstein found one another on contrasting sides of the subject. Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Outliers", concluded that humans have more control over their success in life. The author of "The Sports Gene", David Epstein, takes the subject at the opposite view stating people are given innate talent that is out of our control. Epstein supports his argument that people have no control over their destiny by using specific examples. However, with strong evidence …show more content…

In the story "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell uses a series of experiments and logical reasoning to clarify that practice determines the success of one's destiny. "In fact, by the age of twenty, the elite performers had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. By contrast the merely good students had totaled eight thousand hours" (Gladwell 12). The experiment showed that the students that excelled had practiced a lot more than the merely good proving more practice determines success. In addition, the studies found from the experiment reveal that there were no "naturals" with the innate talent to be an elite performer. There is a direct correlation between practice and success, but not between naturally good and success. This shows that even though Thomas was able to succeed mass of success is straight from the amount of practice. Comparatively, Gladwell uses Mozart as another example. "Since he didn’t produce his greatest work until he had been composing for more than twenty years" (Gladwell 13). Mozart wasn’t able to just walk up to a podium and make a magical music. He had to practice and prepare for many years. Lastly, Neurologist Daniel Levitin states, "researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours" (Gladwell 12). Scientist believe that any person has the ability