──咦？ 画风突然一变？

今天閱讀內容來到Outliers第三章，這章還有續集。今天阅读的第一部分，估计是铺垫，所以写作逻辑跟之前的不同。之前作作者透过归纳成功人士的共性，来突出除了一般我们公认的要件之外，还有其他重要因素。如，

第一章：杰出曲棍球选手有多努力，但挖掘下去，发现不对，他们杰出实则是“努力+出生机遇”的结果。

第二章：传奇工程师Bill Joy有多努力，但挖掘下去，发现不对，他杰出实则是“努力+有充分練習的機會"的結果。

依照之前的写作逻辑，这章预期是要说贫民百万富翁Chris Langan有多聪明，但挖掘下去，发现不对，他杰出实则是"高IQ+XX"的结果。有趣的是作者没有直接切入主题，告诉我们XX是什么。他的变奏，可能暗示作者面临一个吸睛题材，但却无法直接照之前的写作逻辑生搬硬套，所以了改变手法。

但是如果没有注意到本章作为餔垫的功能，就容易错下结论。根据作者本章著重讨论"高IQ对成功有没有影响"的内容，读者容易以为这章是在说"成功人士的特性是→不一定聪明"，并进一步产生，"聪明或不聪明→人人都有机会成功"，这种鸡汤思维。

──逻辑没弄清，社科读成鸡汤文

在前两章中，作者透过归纳来提及一般人没注意到的成功因素。值得注意的是，归纳法所得出的结论，只能视为"必要条件"，即

成功人士的特性是→有充分時間可以練習

作者从来没说

有充分時間可以練習→就會導向成功

作者从没说他找到了成功的"充分条件"，即要"XX→就会导向成功"。

如果没有注意作者的写作逻辑，就容易错读作者没说的事。如果误读前两章为"有好机预→就会导向成功"，就会产生"没有好的机遇，努力都是白搭"，这种偏激结论。

综上，作者固然为了写作目的，悄悄改变写作节奏，但读者不可不好好省思写作脉络的转换，读者自己也要清楚把握作者的行文逻辑。稍一误读，就会产生误解。从而产生"没有好的机遇，努力都是白搭"，这种偏激结论，或是将一本社会科学的书读成鸡汤文，产生"聪明或不聪明，人人都有机会成功"的结论。就是这些都是不可取的。

Summary

Intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated. After First World War, Lewis Terman, a young professor of psychology at Stanford University, created a intelligence test and decided to devote himself in tracing the achievements of people with high intelligence. At the beginning, these selected people's names are everywhere on the top of every competition that students will join. The result is exciting. But by the time the group reached adulthood, the case indicates otherwise. These people do have better life in average, but none of them becomes a big shot, and some of them even are considered failures. The theory of "the smarter the better"  thus was falsified. 

And the same is true in the affirmative provision case of Michigan university. The smarter doesn't imply the better. The school lowers its standard test requirement to enroll minorities. While these students performs worse than the average in the school, their achievements after school are one-on-one as good as the others. Now, the author argues that the minor in the Michigan University actually already has been intelligent enough, and once someone has reached an IQ threshold, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.

Try & Error

引述框中是作者的原句，後面是我從中學習的地方

1

Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.

我的原句

when the intelligence index is higher than a threshold , the more intelligence one has doesn't matter in terms of real world success.

doesn't matter放在這不好，因為他的一般用法是很簡潔的。如，It Doesn't Matter，或是擴充主詞The Election Doesn't Matter。如果It Doesn't Matter後面真的要接句子，通常也是加if，如，It Doesn't Matter If..。相較之下，作者用doesn't translate into，更好的表達為什麼更多的IQ沒有幫助。

2

And when we hear about someone like Chris Langan, our instinctive response is the same as Terman's instinctive response when he met Henry Cowell almost a century ago. We feel awe.

長短句總結意涵的範例，作者常用這個寫作手法。今天我也用上了：

At the beginning, these selected people's names are everywhere on the top of every competition that students will join. The result is exciting.

3

basketball player only has to be tall enough - and the same is true of intelligence. Intelligence has a threshold.

用簡單的片語表達兩個案例的關係，句點之後，另起新句總結。相較之下，我的原句

Similar results are revealed in the affirmative provision case in the university of Michigan.

看起來比較複雜，又沒有說清Similar results指的是什麼。我參考作者寫法，加上結論The smarter doesn't imply the better。

Sexy expressions in each section

1 Story of Chris Langan

Every question Saget threw at him, he tossed aside, as if it were a triviality.

2 Terman's experiment

For the rest of his life, Terman watched over his charges like a mother hen.

[N] the responsibility of taking care or control of someone or something.

the people in her charge are pupils and not experimental subjects

synonyms:care,protection,safekeeping,control,custody,guardianship

3 The fail of Terman's theory

As Hudson writes (and keep in mind that he did his research at elite all-male English boarding schools in the 1950S and 1960s), "Knowledge of a boy's IQ is of little help if you are faced with a formful of clever boys."

4 A revised theory

It's like basketball again: once someone is tall enough, then we start to care about speed and court sense and agility and ball handling skills and shooting touch 

He has the flair for the dramatic. His mind leaps from violent imagery to sex to people jumping out of burning skyscrapers to very practical issues, such as how to get a duvet to stay on a bed.