When it comes to the question of, is destiny decided by genes or do one's choices that they make decide the outcome of their lives people are on two different sides of the spectrum. Two non-fiction authors wrote their own articles on this issue. David Epstein and Malcolm Gladwell both came up with their own ideas on the subject. In David Epstein’s excerpt The Sports Gene , he argued that genes decide our future. Malcolm Gladwell on the other hand, believes that one's choices make up his future and discusses his view in his excerpt The Outliers. Both authors give a great argument, but David Epstein does a better job at getting his point across and giving strong evidence to support it. Malcolm Gladwell explains throughout his exert that
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He used the example of Thomas being born with his natural high jumping ability on thomas’ 3 time ever high jumping he broke 7 feet tall. Without training Thomas was able to do what most people could not do after months of practice. Thomas later went to win the track and field high jump world championship clearing 7’8” and if he had any sort of arch in his back like a proper high jumper he would have broken the record for the highest center of body mass. After achieving this he was medically examined by a scientist from Japan to see if there was anyway to explain his exceptional high jumping ability. Once they finished the examination they were able to conclude that due to his abnormally long achilles tendon he was able to use the extra spring caused by the tension of the length to jump higher into the air with more ease. This claim was the break that really gave David Epstein the back and support for his claim that one's destiny is decided by his gene’s and that due to certain advantages in their genes their destinies are decided. The difference between this article and Malcolm Gladwell’s is that Epstein brings in a second opinion and shows that another reason and way to explain Thomas’ ability is his ability and practice from his previous sport. This claim was able to strengthen his claim because he showed another side of the story but still was able to represent that his jumping ability in basketball was still due to his long
He used the example of Thomas being born with his natural high jumping ability on thomas’ 3 time ever high jumping he broke 7 feet tall. Without training Thomas was able to do what most people could not do after months of practice. Thomas later went to win the track and field high jump world championship clearing 7’8” and if he had any sort of arch in his back like a proper high jumper he would have broken the record for the highest center of body mass. After achieving this he was medically examined by a scientist from Japan to see if there was anyway to explain his exceptional high jumping ability. Once they finished the examination they were able to conclude that due to his abnormally long achilles tendon he was able to use the extra spring caused by the tension of the length to jump higher into the air with more ease. This claim was the break that really gave David Epstein the back and support for his claim that one's destiny is decided by his gene’s and that due to certain advantages in their genes their destinies are decided. The difference between this article and Malcolm Gladwell’s is that Epstein brings in a second opinion and shows that another reason and way to explain Thomas’ ability is his ability and practice from his previous sport. This claim was able to strengthen his claim because he showed another side of the story but still was able to represent that his jumping ability in basketball was still due to his long