Chapter 5 Emil Jay Freireich

Malcolm introduces the concept of a "near miss", where something that was supposed to kill you didn't, and you are less scared because now you think you are invincible.

Childhood hardship is bad, but it makes adults who are used to hardship and thus can stand more than other people who had wonderful childhood experiences. Jay Freireich was one of those, but because of his horrible past he was able to push forward with treating childhood leukemia, a disease that at that time had a 100% mortality rate.

Rough people come from bad childhoods. And these rulebreakers who don't respect the status quo are needed to move us forward.