Chris Langan

Chris Langan is an extremely intelligent man profiled by Gladwell in his discussion of the relationship between intelligence and success. Langan grows up in a very poor family in Montana. He shows remarkable intelligence at an early age and is able to grasp complicated mathematical concepts well beyond his years. After high school, he earns a scholarship to a private college, but loses the scholarship when his mother fails to turn in some financial aid paperwork. He tries college again in Montana but drops out when he is unable to get to class and unable to arrange to change his schedule.

Langan drifts from job to job and at the time of Gladwell's profile is living on a run-down farm in Missouri. Langan has extremely high intelligence, Gladwell explains, but he does not have the assertive social skills to get what he wants. He might have been...