I agree - Gladwell has the facts right, but his theories on the reason for the facts are quite off from reality, imo. Even if it is hard to count numbers in en

I agree - Gladwell has the facts right, but his theories on the reason for the facts are quite off from reality, imo. Even if it is hard to count numbers in english, it is still easy to see the pattern in numerical symbols. Either way it is certainly not a momentous task for a 4 year old to form relations words to numerical symbols, with their abundance of ability in memory. This is why Gladwell's theory falls apart - a much more likely theory is that math ability is more readily determined by HARD work or innate genius. And concerning his rice farming theory, I wouldn't know whether to laugh or take it as an insult, because to me it is that ridiculous. His claiming effectively, that farmers in China work the hardest, because they farmed rice. On how many levels does this seem inconsistent?