OUTLIERS: Those who lie outside!

The illusionary world in which we live is set in some patterns. Da Vinci code by Dan Brown, explored the golden ratio of 1.618:1 in every aspect of nature be it the snail shells or attractive credit cards! Some patterns are quantifiable, some not. Statistically speaking there is something called data set. In layman's terms, data set is a group of data values which have an average and deviation from the average within the data group. They can be observations or any (meaningful) statistical data value. But there lies something absolutely outside the data set and yet they seem to influence the behaviour of the data set. In statistics, an outlier is an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data. They are called "Outliers". It literally means those who lie outside. This book called "Outliers" very well written by Malcolm Gladwell is truly an amazing book. It starts with a mysterious country side in the west coast of US called Rosseto. A replica of a Italian country side, where the people seem to have no health issues. While the US had heart attacks as epidemic the rosseto dwellers lived hale and hearty! What was the well guarded secret of their health? Why was it that the sportspeople born in the month of Jan thru' March were good at Ice Hockey in Canada? The entire statistical data on their performance didn't reveal something very obvious. Well, that was the outlier. But what was that obvious fact the analysts overlooked every time? Another chapter explores the wonder of people having astronomical level of IQ. Does an IQ of 150 mean that the person can fare better in the day to day life, than those with the IQ level of 130. Answers is, as mater of fact, NO. It is grossly misunderstood that higher IQ means that the person is more intelligent. But actually any higher IQ than 130 does not seem to make any additional difference! HOW? WHY? Aren't these interesting things to know about? Hey and let me tell you all one thing. I am an aficionado of Maths and stats, hence for me such explorations intrigue me. If you are interested then just grab this book and read. One more thing, This book is one that needs to be borrowed, not bought. It is a good book but not worth keeping in your book shelf. (unless of course you have ample space in the shelf) Overall, The author seem to miss one important fact. The fact that there are no co-incidences. He has explores the destiny of billionaires like Bill gates, Steve Jobs, great attorney Flom from Skadden Arps Law firm. etc, etc. He has justified their pinnacle of success with many attributes. How the opportunity fell on their lap. It was one in a billion chance to get such opportunities in their individual lives. I do not know whether the author has seen things from a wider angle. But it is true that everything is pre-planned and there are no accidents. That's the way it should have happened. The next review will be on a movie, Kung Fu Panda! O.A.K.