Analysis Of David Epstein's The Sports Gene

479 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Malcom gladwell outliers and the sociological imagination

Many people believe that our future is decided by our innate talent and others believe that we carve it ourselves. David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, states that innate ability leads to more success than practice. For Malcom Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, it is the other way around. Through his strong and valid ratiocinate, Gladwell provides a superior, logical reasoning compared to Epstein when answering the question, How much of what happens in our lives do we control?

In the first place, Epstein makes an exceptional argument for the belief that innate talent is the reason for success. For example, someone with natural talent can be considered professional even with very little training. In August 2007, Donald Thomas went to compete in the high jumping world championships with only eight months of training (Epstein 6). Secondly, genetics are often the root of innate abilities. Majaki Ishikawa, a scientist at the Neuromuscular Research Center in Finland found that Thomas had long legs and a stiff, ten and a quarter inch Achilles tendon, allowing him to store more elastic energy and …show more content…

To begin, people who practice the most are often ahead of others who do not practice as much. Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson at the Academy of Music in Berlin saw that the best musicians were the ones who practiced for an extreme number of hours (Gladwell 3). Secondly, there is no correlation between innate talent and success. Ericsson found that no practice deprived "naturals" excelled (Gladwell 5). Lastly, it took many famous composers years to become a master. Psychologist Michael Howe says that Mozart wrote his best work after twenty years of practice (Gladwell 10). The weight and validity of Gladwell's points provide a compelling argument for the declaration that our destiny is fully in our

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Brainology, Dweck's Superman And Me

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    “There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs,” was said by motivational speaker and American author Zig Ziglar. This relates to Carol S. Dweck’s article “Brainology” and Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me.” Ziglar, Dweck, and Alexie all feel that it isn’t easy for someone to become successful. It takes hard work, perseverance, and the want to learn and grow. In Dweck’s article, she stated that someone with a growth mindset would become more successful and knowledgeable than someone with a fixed mindset, which was demonstrated by Alexie in his essay, and by a personal experience of my own.

    Read More

  • The Other Wes Moore Analysis

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Family, education and a person’s opportunities are significant elements that collectively define an individual, as demonstrated by both Wes Moore’s. Depending on the opportunities offered to you and whether you decide to take advantage of them through hard work and persistence will result in your success or failure in the end. Wes Moore explains “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” goes to show that certain factors affect how you will be as an adult regardless of similar or differentiating backgrounds. (Moore xi).

    Read More

  • Comparing Outliers And Epstein's Sport Genes

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you train hard enough you can master or finesse a skill, therefore several people don't require training. Specific people are born with genetic enhancements that assist them with the skill and grants them an upper hand. David Epstein believes that genetics assist with the activity and does all of the work(Epstein,7). Malcom Gladwell believes that training pays off, moreover that if you train hard for plenty of hours you could surpass a prodigy(Gladwell,11). In Gladwell's writing Outliers, he talks about facts on how if you train for 10k hours you can master a skill. In Epstein's writing Sports Gene it revolves around a boy that was born with a genetic enhancement that doesn't train nevertheless is almost a pro without any training at

    Read More

  • Essay On Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    Most people throughout the world strive for success in each task they take on, and along with this, many reasons contribute to why they succeed or not. If a person does not succeed, they may automatically blame themselves because of their level of strength. Others may blame themselves for not having enough knowledge about what they are trying to succeed at. The real reason that people may not succeed, however, is their lack of determination and happiness throughout his/her journey that is demonstrated in the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.

    Read More

  • The Sports Gene By David Epstein Analysis

    155 Words  | 1 Pages

    You may think that the Achilles tendon doesn't really have a matter or may not be something important.But, in “The Sports Gene” by David Epstein he talks about how the Achilles tendon can help you jump higher in any sort of sport or activity.Mattis started the bar at 6`6 7`0 and Thomas cleared all of them easily.Thomas did not believe himself he thought there was no way he could do that but after all he did do it and they even invited him to a track meet.Thomas cleared the 6`8.25 on his first attempt which he qualified for the national championships ,then he cleared 7`0.25 for a new Lindenwood University record.After all that wasn't the highest he could jump he cleared the 7`3.25 for a Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse record.But, that when his Coach

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of How To Transform An Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone wants to get better at something, but some want it more than others. In “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium”, the narrator wants to get better at basketball, so he wakes up everyday at 4:30 to go with his dad to his work. Everyday, the narrator would wait 3 hours in his dad’s car until the gym opened, only to sit on the bench and watch the other men play basketball. Finally, one of the best players, Dante, tells the narrator he can play but he’ll get “smoked”. However, the narrator proved him wrong. The narrator learns that if you persevere, work hard, and have confidence, your dreams may come true. In How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place

    Read More

  • David Epstein's The Outliers: The Story Of Success

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gladwell explains, a study done by psychologist K. Anderson Ericson and two colleagues at a music school where there were three groups the students who had potential to become world class soloists, the merely good kids, and the kids who were very unlikely to ever play professionally. The study compared the number of hours each student was practicing a week and all together in their lifetime (Gladwell 11). The people who were practicing and putting forth more effort than everyone else became better, practice pays off. Violinists who played with the intent to get better and totaled ten thousand hours of practice were the elite performers. Those who totaled eight thousand were decent and those who totaled just over four thousand hours of practice were labeled as future music teachers. Ten thousand hours was what Gladwell had considered "mastery" (Gladwell 12). We are able to control how good we are by the amount of practice we are willing to put in. Also, Gladwell states how the famous composer Mozart almost developed late, he didn’t produce his best pieces until he had been composing for twenty years. This ties in with Gladwell's ten thousand hours of practice rule to develop mastery. Mozart probably would have practiced for more than ten thousand hours since he had been composing for such a long time (Gladwell 13). With all of Gladwell's

    Read More

  • Book Summary: The Sports Gene

    466 Words  | 1 Pages

    The book “The Sports Gene” was not only a very good read but also it was also extremely intriguing. While reading, some of the main points were clearly stated in the form of “theories” or studies that scientists or students conducted to clearly determine if there is a “sports gene” in humans. Some of the questions you ask yourself is how can that person run so fast or how can that person jump so high. How the book was laid out was in short somewhat stories of a pro athlete or someone that conducted an experiment to determine how that person became a pro. An example of this is when the book talks about the 10000 hour rule. Its crazy to think that if someone practices any sport for 10000 hours that they may possibly become a pro and there is no specific gene that ties pros and non-pros together. The book also talks many times on how there is a significant difference between pros and non pros just

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The 10, 000 Hours Of Practice

    881 Words  | 2 Pages

    What brings you to success? Is it the 10,000 hours of practice? My opinion is it all depends on the situation as in what you’re trying to be successful. So personally I kind of agree with this 10,000 hour theory. What is the 10,000 hour rule? It’s stated in the book by Malcolm Gladwell, if you practice for 10,000 hours then you will become successful in whatever you were practicing in or for. To me 10,000 hours of practice all the depends, because mentally you have to be motivated. The three correlations of success in this book that I had found was relating to IQ, birth year, and the theory of the 10,000 hour rule. They say this all has something to do with one 's success.

    Read More

  • Malcolm Gladwell 10 000 Hours Research Paper

    1830 Words  | 4 Pages

    While it is common knowledge that practice and dedication play a huge role in a person’s eventual success, Malcolm Gladwell, in his bestselling non-fiction book, takes this one step further by arguing that one cannot be a master in one’s field without first practicing for a specific amount of time. He subsequently provides different stories and anecdotes to support his theory. While, the idea of extended practice improving skills and playing a big role in the achievement of success has some merit, Gladwell’s argument that 10,000 hours is the minimum requirement for excellence in any field is erroneous as he does not include compelling research,

    Read More

  • Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

    534 Words  | 2 Pages

    talents in music and sports; although, we have been taught the impact of individuals like

    Read More

  • Beyond If You Have Mastered, You Will Never Grow Analysis

    501 Words  | 2 Pages

    By putting in the effort, you can be able to be successful within in the classroom and in any sport or elective that you may take part in. However , by limiting yourself to only what you have mastered will not allow you to grow as a person. As you mature you will realize that in order to become successful , sacrificing certain freedoms now will help you in the long run. Your objective should be to exceed others expectations of you.

    Read More

  • Outliers: The Story Of Success, By Malcolm Gladwell

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Natural talent doesn’t lead the person to success, but it’s the combination of nurturing and favorable events that will make the him/her “successful”.

    Read More

  • Outliers-The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    Outliers-The Story of Success is a sociological, and psychological non-fiction book, which discusses success, and the driving reasons behind why some people are significantly more successful than others. Malcolm Gladwell explains this by dividing the book into two parts, opportunity and legacy. Opportunity discusses how select people are fortunate enough to be born between the months of January through March, and also includes the idea that those who are already successful will have more opportunities to improve and become even more successful. The 10,000-hour rule proves the idea that in order to become successful in a certain skill, one must have practiced that skill for at least 10,000 hours. In addition to the 10,000-hour rule, timing is also a major component that implies being in the right place at the right time, which brings the author to discuss Bill Gates who was born during the time where programming and computer technology was emerging, therefore sparking his interest in computers, later bringing him to create Microsoft. Another point Gladwell brings forth is the notion of one’s upbringing, race, and ethnicity can be a factor behind their success. And lastly, pursuing meaningful work will cause one to continue working with their skill and not give up. Legacy is a collection of examples that support the idea: values are passed down from generation to generation, which may cause a certain group of people to be more persistent in a skill, or occupation.

    Read More

  • Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Secret To Success

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theory that the more one practices the better one becomes. To follow the dream of excellence you must practice your assignment for a total of 10,000 hours or more. “The students who would end up the best in their class began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours by age fourteen, and up and up, until the age of twenty they were practicing well over thirty hours a week” (39) in a sense this excerpt confirms what society has told people for years, that practice makes perfect. Of course some people are born with raw talent, however how does one expect to improve their abilities if they do not rehearse. Anyone can be mediocre without practice, but in order to make it in the big shots one must give their one hundred and ten percent to beat out the competition. It’s all about how one distinguishes themself from another and the only way to do that is to show off that skill that has been practiced repeatedly. Preferably 10,000 hours

    Read More

More about Analysis Of David Epstein's The Sports Gene

Open Document