Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Book Title: Outliers
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non-Fiction
My Grade: B
# of Pages: 299
Week Read: Week #13 (3/26 - 4/2/10)
Summary: Why do some people succeed far more than others?
There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time looking around them - at such things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth date. The story of success is more complex - and a lot more interesting - that it initially appears.
Outliers explains what the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common, the extraordinary success of Asians at math, the hidden advantages of star athletes, why all top New York lawyers have the same resume, and the reason you've never heard of the world's smartest man - all in terms of generation, family, culture, and class. It matters what year you were born if you want to be a Silicon Valley billionaire, Gladwell argues, and it matters where you were born if you want to be a successful pilot. The lives of outliers - those people whose achievements fall outside normal experience - follow a peculiar and unexpected logic, and in making that logic plain Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential.
In The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell changed the way we understand the world. In Blink he changed the way we think about thinking. Outliers will transform the way we understand success.
My Thoughts: Short review because there's not a lot to cover with it. I read this book because I had been hearing portions while my roommate listened to her audio version of it. While not one for "self-help" books or "how-to-be successful" guides, this one struck me as interesting because it's not really either of those. Outliers just really talks about how success is luck and how it isn't luck.
Gladwell is a true storyteller holding your attention with each example he gives, and even when he gets into more fact heavy portions his writing style still keeps you engaged. At no point did I find the book getting really dry and boring, which is often the case with a lot of non-fiction books. Obviously the subject matter is something fascinating, but the presentation could easily have gone bad.
Everyone is going to get something different out of this book. Some may get life-altering information, others just a good read, and then people who leave with the fact that while in the end you can make your own success, in almost all situations it's what you're dealt with in life that can really make or break you. Success is luck you shape.
Next Book: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non-Fiction
My Grade: B
# of Pages: 299
Week Read: Week #13 (3/26 - 4/2/10)
Summary: Why do some people succeed far more than others?
There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time looking around them - at such things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth date. The story of success is more complex - and a lot more interesting - that it initially appears.
Outliers explains what the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common, the extraordinary success of Asians at math, the hidden advantages of star athletes, why all top New York lawyers have the same resume, and the reason you've never heard of the world's smartest man - all in terms of generation, family, culture, and class. It matters what year you were born if you want to be a Silicon Valley billionaire, Gladwell argues, and it matters where you were born if you want to be a successful pilot. The lives of outliers - those people whose achievements fall outside normal experience - follow a peculiar and unexpected logic, and in making that logic plain Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential.
In The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell changed the way we understand the world. In Blink he changed the way we think about thinking. Outliers will transform the way we understand success.
My Thoughts: Short review because there's not a lot to cover with it. I read this book because I had been hearing portions while my roommate listened to her audio version of it. While not one for "self-help" books or "how-to-be successful" guides, this one struck me as interesting because it's not really either of those. Outliers just really talks about how success is luck and how it isn't luck.
Gladwell is a true storyteller holding your attention with each example he gives, and even when he gets into more fact heavy portions his writing style still keeps you engaged. At no point did I find the book getting really dry and boring, which is often the case with a lot of non-fiction books. Obviously the subject matter is something fascinating, but the presentation could easily have gone bad.
Everyone is going to get something different out of this book. Some may get life-altering information, others just a good read, and then people who leave with the fact that while in the end you can make your own success, in almost all situations it's what you're dealt with in life that can really make or break you. Success is luck you shape.
Next Book: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks • review
Back to the Book List.