Chris Langan:The Smartest Man In The World-1

The man profiled in Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" who lacked the practical intelligence for success.

The whole premise of the book is that the story of the bootstrapping lone ranger that single handedly overcomes life's obstacles and rises to the pinnacle of life, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, is a myth.

He writes about two individuals Chris Langan and Oppenheimer. Both these men are geniuses. You probably heard of Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

You may have never heard about Chris Langan and that is the whole point. Chris Langan was born a genius. He had taught himself how to read by the age of three. He breezed through school never having to take notes or prepare for exams like us mere mortals.

He liked academia. Where do you think he ended up. In a bar working as a bouncer! The difference between the two was that Chris Langan lacked practical intelligence. Social psychologists define practical intelligence as the ability to say the right thing at the right time to the right person. I define social intelligence as "Street Smarts". One telling example of the lack of social intelligence on the part of Chris Langan was an anecdote where he argues with the Calculus professor and is rebuffed by the professor who says that Chris Langan lacks the intelligence to appreciate mathematics

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