Gladwell appeals to logos by including a chart of the

Gladwell appeals to logos by including a chart of the birthdates from the Medicine Hat Tigers, a
major league Canadian hockey team. He also states a list of where the last twenty-five Americans
to win the Nobel Prize attended college in Chapter Three, in addition to a chart listing the
seventy-five richest people throughout history in Chapter Two. This appeal to logos gives you
facts to think about, and makes Outliers a much more easy read.
“Outliers: the Story of Success” is organized in a very breezy grade school understandable
way. Instead of going in chronological order of the examples, Gladwell organizes his book by
topic. In each section and chapter of the book, a different thing of fortune is stated for the reader.
For example, birth date, upbringing, and what your parents taught you are all stated in Part One
of Outliers, Opportunity. In Part Two: Legacy, Gladwell brings up the topics of culture, history,
and ethnicity as factors that influence success. Gladwell’s book is organized in a simple,
understated way to allow the reader to understand the information Gladwell states. On a smaller
note, Gladwell employs rhetorical questions and a high use of italics to some of his stronger
opinions that has a better chance of swaying the reader to his point of view. These tricks are used

as if in order to make the reader double-take and be especially aware of Gladwell’s strong
opinions. (source writing tactics)
Although Outliers is a highly acclaimed book, it also has several criticisms. One problem
found in Gladwell’s book is that he fails to explicitly define the term “success.” Success is a
subjective term, and can mean different things to different people. Success can mean happiness,
wealth, popularity, or power, depending on who you are and what you want out of life. The
reader must assume that Gladwell is talking about success in terms of being the best from
reading examples that include Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and Joe Flom, all experts in their field.
However, the fact remains that Gladwell only discusses one type of success in his book; a type of
success which does not appeal to everyone.
Another complaint many critics have of Outliers is that Gladwell only provides extreme
circumstances for the narratives told in the book. All the examples Gladwell gives are his
oppinion, and none of these stories move away from his main point. Gladwell probably chose