Summary

Chapter 8 is called "Rice Paddies and Math Tests." In this chapter, Gladwell makes the case that the practice of rice cultivation has created a cultural legacy among Asian cultures that leads to more relative success for people from those cultures.

Rice paddies, Gladwell explains, are complicated systems that require careful planning and regular attention. They must be perfectly level, the plants must be properly spaced and the paddies must be irrigated properly. They are usually weeded and harvested by hand and two crops can be planted and harvested each year. Unlike the cultivation of crops like wheat, which require very little attention during the growing season, rice requires the farmer to be working on his paddies continually throughout the year.

Since the main agricultural crop requires such continuous attention, Asian rice-growing people develop a culture that puts an...