Finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and still have Blink on reserve at the library. This is not the mind of a major scientist, nor the writing of a stellar author. His premise in this book is that superstars are a function of their place, time and benefactors. Oh, you didn't know that? At least I watched a good movie last night, Frida. I have hesitated taking it out, never having seen Salma in anything and being averse to watching anything about Communists in Mexico, but it was good ... visually pleasing (no Love in the Time of Cholera, mind you) and Salma was amazing. And of course it appealed to my attraction to the tango.
Back to Outliers. I appreciate scientists who can write up their theses using references that the common nonscientific reader can relate to. But once the book becomes trying to tease theorems out of single stories, they lose credibility. At least now I understand the Oriental mastery of math ... if you count in formula, I guess you naturally have a leg up. The one theory that harkens back to Tipping Point is the extension of the school day/year. How else can the student rack up the "expertise" requirement of 10,000 hours?
Anyway, I've moved on to short stories by Pirandello.
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