Common Read Nominations: Fall 2013

Abstracts

The nonfiction work Outliers is about opportunities, missed and grasped. The book is divided into two sections – the first half is about Opportunities. The second half is over Legacy. Opportunities is filled with examples over and over of successful individuals and companies who reached success not only by the luck of numbers, birth, wealth, but by other factors such as perseverance, numbering systems, spending 10,000 hours honing one’s ability, education, such as Bill Gates and his time as a youth spent on computers, etc. Gladwell is not talking about success in terms of a Donald Trump model, although financial success can be one benefit of success. He is not only speaking of educational benefits, but of Practical Intelligence. Further, in Legacy, Gladwell also shows how individuals and companies sometimes fail to achieve success and why. Cultures of violence limit individuals or family/social groups from getting beyond the next target of vengeance. How perceptions about minorities abilities to succeed can and have been altered/disproved by the education model of the KIPP Academy in New York City. Gladwell writes example rich narrative, telling stories,, relating statistics and facts to support his points. He doesn’t give too much away but pulls the reader along, building suspense in his nonfiction narrative. At the end, Gladwell explains his own success and that of his family, that despite challenges of race and culture, his ancestors and family were able to surmount difficulties to raise themselves from slavery to professional careers. / from Booklist
While the distance between rich and poor is growing in the U.S., the gap between the haves and have-nots in India is staggering to behold. This first book by a New Yorker staff writer (and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the Washington Post) jolts the reader’s consciousness with the opposing realities of poverty and wealth in a searing visit to the Annawaldi settlement, a flimflam slum that has recently sprung up in the western suburbs of the gigantic city of Mumbai, perched tentatively along the modern highway leading to the airport and almost within a stone’s throw of new, luxurious hotels. We first meet Abdul, whose daily grind is to collect trash and sell it; in doing so, he has “lifted his large family above subsistence.” Boo takes us all around the community, introducing us to a slew of disadvantaged individuals who, nevertheless, draw on their inner strength to not only face the dreary day but also ponder a day to come that will, perhaps, be a little brighter. Sympathetic yet objective and eloquently rendered.

How the book supports course objectives, inspires a variety of potential assignments, and promotes discussion.

Regarding Course Objectives, I think this book clearly meets the requirements as a model of writing process and thinking critically about texts, particularly, in his use of research to support and give evidence to his claims. The book makes use of research filled with examples and ideas, combining them into a smooth, flowing narrative. He tells stories, uses dialogue/ direct quotations, varies forms of writing (genres), and for his documentation style, he offers a variation of chapter notes in the back of the book. Additionally, there is a group reading guide in the back. / As a nonfiction text, it could be used as a study in investigative reporting (research). It takes the form of narrative nonfiction and “reads” like fiction -- a study in language itself (building energy, images, tension, patterns, etc.). It lends itself nicely to argumentative topics dealing with the world’s role in dealing with human rights violations, class warfare, corrupt justice systems, relationships among neighbors, survival of the fittest, among others.

How the book connects with this time and place.

In our challenging age of economic uncertainty, success might seem to be rare or even disdained, but it is in such a concept that our society and economy might recover by looking at the idea of success in a very different way. Disputing long held beliefs that the ideas of success – she’s rich because she came from money OR he’s successful because he’s white is disproven in this book. Success comes from being awake, not distracted; from stepping up rather than sitting it out. Our students need a book like this – an uplifting boost to why they are going to college in the first place. / It’s published in a time of globalization and amid discussions of how and if other countries like the U.S. should step in when human rights are violated. It is a tale of survival and the lengths that individuals will go to achieve (or suppress) justice. It is a study of human existence and the purpose and value of the individual. These are themes that could benefit from study in political science, sociology, political science, philosophy, history, anthropology, and justice/law enforcement.

Local events or experiences that might enrich students’ experiences of the book.

provides links to sources used in the book. There are many films connected to the question of success and how schools prepare and sometimes fail to prepare students (for example, the film Waiting for Superman).
More information is available about the book at
There are numerous interviews with Gladwell available on YouTube, including this one with Stephen Colbert / A partnership with the International Club and the International Education office could bring many opportunities. We have many international students willing to discuss life in their countries. I’ve spoken with students who have told of stories escaping Afghanistan and North Korea. A book like this might offer that opportunity to bring in our international students in a meaningful way.
The author is alive and well. But since she has won the Pulitzer, her price may be high. See an interview with the author here:
A film series could complement the book -- films that deal with many of the issues (either directly in India or elsewhere) that the book brings up. Studio 30 in Olathe shows Indian films weekly, so a partnership might be possible.