Customer Reviews

Outliers: The Story of Success

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In short, Mr. Gladwell's writing--his earnestness, optimism, and persuasiveness--never ceases to impress me.

He broke down trends like no one else in The Tipping Point, and was single-handedly the most convincing voice for trusting your gut reactions (in an age of numbers, facts, and analysis no less) in Blink; this guy knows how to research, and better yet, put the nuggets of wisdom he's found in psychology and science into terrifically engaging and palatable text.

And the most amazing thing is, I don't think he's doing anything new--it's the way he presents it. Where most people could do similar research into his topics and write up their own findings and support already existing and accepted thought, Malcolm succeeds because he looks at it from outside the box. He's not doing much, but he does it so well--he turns things on their head, or reveals things that sit in plain view to us, because we mostly can't see the forest for the trees.

He puts this to high form again in his latest book, and the premise is as provocative and unconventional as his previous efforts, if not more so: he argues that a person's success has much to do with such things as luck (circumstance, fortuitous or unlikely events), culture, environment growing up, and of course, practice. The last point is not terribly groundbreaking, but the rest flies in the face of what we typically credit a successful individual for. Because let's be frank, in today's era, we all strive very hard for equality and to look past a person's background or upbringing (and don't get me wrong, I support that fully), emphasizing the fact that it doesn't matter who you are or where you came from, we can all achieve great things. Turning things on their head as he does, the author takes a step back and argues that these things DO matter.

Influential people today are sometimes paid extravagant sums to tour and speak of leadership, and we see them as charismatic, pioneering folks. Nothing wrong with that, but Mr. Gladwell digs deeper, and presents convincing cases where simply what happened to someone in their lives could almost be said to predispose them to success. Bill Gates is a fascinating example he explores--the world's richest man, he's a successful figure most will not attribute a great deal of charisma to, but he got there somehow. The how of it is eye-opening stuff.

It may please many fellow Canadians when I mention the part where he looks at an NHLer's success in the league; call me biased, but it was another favourite anecdote in a book full of insights. As a prime example of what I think he does so well--revealing what's staring at us in the face all along by looking at things another way--he attributes the great successes to something as simple as birth months. He found a disproportionally large number of elite players born in January, February, and March--why is that so? You'll have to read it to find out, and it elicits one of those reactions commonly encountered in all his books: a slapped forehead, an exclamation of, "Why didn't I think of that??", and then rushing off to tell the nearest person this newest, coolest tidbit of information.

And you'll do that with this book just like with his previous two. You'll read a section of it, and feel the urge and need to share it with others because of how honestly interesting it is. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates again why he is one of today's most celebrated and influential voices in non-fiction; already, I eagerly await his next book!

Early advantages plus talent plus lots of practice plus a good social heritage plus a large opportunity help people succeed. That's this book in a nutshell as described in a series of New Yorker style articles. As told, the story is much more entertaining than that, but I want you to get the essence. Mr. Gladwell knows how to pick and spin a story to make it appealing and intriguing, and he has done well on those dimensions here.

The book will inspire people to want to help others accomplish more. Any parent, any teacher, any coach, or anyone interested in improving society will find something stimulating here.

Let me give you a quick overview:

1. Mr. Gladwell draws his inspiration for this book from the studies of Roseto, Pennsylvania by Dr. Stewart Wolf and sociologist John Bruhn that established how social factors can improve or harm health. Mr. Gladwell wants to similarly expand our vision of what affects success beyond the sense that "raw talent" and "privilege" help.

2. Mr. Gladwell uses the birth dates of athletes to establish that annual cutoff dates for teams benefit those born closer to the cutoff date. This principle also affects school children. As a result, the older children in a cohort do better and get more attention. Mr. Gladwell proposes having more anniversary dates so that more youngsters will get early access to help and attention.

3. Mr. Gladwell tells us the background of Bill Joy, one of the great computer programming geniuses of all time. In the story, he points out that mastery of most disciplines requires 10,000 hours of practice. Mr. Joy got that practice at a young age because he had access to time sharing on a mainframe when most programmers didn't. The practice point is buttressed by a study of violinists that correlates how much they practiced to their ultimate success. Then, Mr. Gladwell pulls in the Beatles and Bill Gates as examples to support his point. He also looks at the frequency of accumulating large wealth to notice it is concentrated in one time period in one country.

4. From there, he gives us the sad story of a genius who hasn't been able to use his life for very much other than to win on a television game show, Christopher Langan. Mr. Gladwell goes on to argue that you have to be talented enough to succeed, but that talent level falls far below the genius level.

5. Mr. Gladwell next points out that parenting matters. Mr. Langan had little help there, but many privileged youngsters get enormous assistance which provides direct help and makes them more assertive.

6. Joe Flom is profiled next to describe his background before becoming the head of a major New York Law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. Great emphasis is placed on his being Jewish, so he couldn't work in the "white shoe" firms that didn't want to get their hands dirty with hostile takeovers; being born when takeover lawyers could do well; and being born into a family with a social heritage of prospering in the garment trade (a very exacting business that rewarded hard work and attention to detail).

7. Mr. Gladwell expands on the idea of a sociological legacy in part two, beginning with the apparent roots of Southern family feuds (think of the Hatfields and the McCoys). He next takes a look at how such social patterns appear to have affected airline safety (with a close look at Korean Air and an Avianca plane that crashed when it ran out of fuel). He then jumps across the globe to argue that the Chinese language's structure of words that involve numbers and the work involved in cultivating rice explain the advantages that many Southern Chinese students have in math over students in other parts of the world.

8. The story moves into its prescriptive stage in describing the results of an experimental public school in the South Bronx that helped youngsters get the structure and discipline they need to succeed . . . with very good results.

9. The book concludes with a look at Mr. Gladwell's Jamaican roots and how those contributed to his success.

Mr. Gladwell is such a provocative and intriguing writer that it seems rude to make any suggestions for possible improvement. However, I will be so bold as to comment on the ideas and the evidence.

1. Mr. Gladwell doesn't seem to take liking the task into account as a success factor. Most of us could eat chocolate candy until 10,000 hours had occurred. But how many of us like any other task that much that can be turned into a valuable form of human achievement? Without such liking, I suspect that much success won't occur. Self-discipline in the absence of liking will just lead to early burnout.

2. Mr. Gladwell seems a little confused about the contribution Bill Gates has made to software. Mr. Gladwell tells the Gates story as though Gates is another Bill Joy. Gates is more of a corporate strategist than a programming success. The famous programs on which Microsoft's success was based were drawn primarily from the work of programmers who weren't even at Microsoft.

3. In the airline crash examples, there is also a lot of research about how crews in all countries defer too much to the captains. Although that research is mentioned in passing, I felt like Mr. Gladwell was overstating his point. The issue in the Avianca crash was strongly related to not speaking American-style English with comfort. I think the book would have been stronger without the airline crash examples.

4. When you are writing about success (even as "outliers"), it makes sense to spend a little more time thinking about what you want to focus on. This book jumps from looking at geniuses who do things that benefit everyone (like Bill Joy) to people who just happen to make a lot of money (Joe Flom). If Mr. Gladwell had stuck with Bill Joy-type examples, I think this book would have been a lot more helpful.

5. If these points are so important, wouldn't it make sense to have the bulk of the book prescribe what to do differently? Mr. Gladwell doesn't take that part very seriously. As a result, the book is more entertainment than call to action.

6. By stringing together a series of article-style chapters, the book ends up being a bit choppy to read and follow.

I do recommend you read the book, and I hope that Mr. Gladwell will write a follow-up book that is prescriptive.

Thank you for much food for thought, Mr. Gladwell!

I read "Outliers" first and enjoyed it so much that I ordered Gladwell's previous books, "Blink" and "Tipping Point," and devoured them right away.
A whirlwind ride or facts, stats, psychology and history about the origins or success, Outliers confirmed what I'd suspected for years about super-achievers.
I'm no genius, but I come from a blue collar family where little or no "concerted cultivation" occured. Where an unlikely combination of: absent positive parental and peer influence, limited socio-economic advantage and non existant sheer, fortuitous opportunity, clearly contributed to my early stagnation, despite above average intelligence and good health. I didn't begin to realize my potential until I entered addiction recovery and came out of the closet at the age of 23(So being Gay and prone to chemical abuse got in the way as well). Certainly, Gladwell's premise that even genius requires oportunity and nurturing is valid. No one is born with ability, opportunity, confidence and motivation. I'm sure there are more than a few children of above average intelligence picking through garbage dumps in South America, who would thrive given the chance. Anyway, whether the book stands the test of time aside, it certainly was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone who wonders about the subject and enjoys non-fiction, pop-cultural studies.

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell focuses in on why people are successful and why people are not successful. According to Malcolm being successful depends on many factors including your birth date, your family, and your place of birth and of course your luck.

Malcolm explains the story of success behind the Beatles, Bill Gates, and other accomplished people, and the reason for the success of Asians at mathematics.

This book focuses in on the lives of outliers - those people who live extraordinary lives of achievement and it explains how they accomplished it. Ten thousand hours of dedicated work is one of the ways these outliers have achieved success. To be an expert at any field you basically need the magical number of ten thousand to achieve that status.

"Outliers" was an interesting read, I enjoyed reading about the Canadian hockey players (go Canada) and how their birth dates have a big influence on how successful they will be at hockey. I also enjoyed the section about airline pilots and their co-workers and how what country your airplane crew comes from can determine whether are not your plane will crash that day.

Overall I felt that Malcolm Gladwell had looked hard to find certain examples to put in his book that suited his theory and then he wrote the book around those examples. He says to be successful it does not just depend on smarts, but it depends on many factors including luck, which I agree with, but only smart people who are dedicated to their work seem to get lucky and make it to outlier status.

In the end the book did not really astound me with any new news except the hockey birth date thing and the pilot thing. To be an outlier you need to be smart (not super smart), dedicated (ten thousand hours), born at the right time and place, have the right parents with a good standard of living and you need to feel entitled. It is pretty basic stuff, sounds easy, right?

I was a big fan of Galdwell`s first two books, the Tipping Point, and Blink.
In Outliers, Gladwell tries to give insight into the story of successful people. A few of the insights such as demographics,luck, and the 10,000 hour rule, will not come as a surprise to most people. I think we are all aware that superstar athletes, and great musicians spend countless hours practicing. A little luck does not hurt either.
However, there are some insights that are quite startling. The culture of honor in Kentucky, and the ethnic aspect of plane crashes, really throw the reader for a loop.
In short, I would say if you enjoyed Gladwell`s other two books, you will enjoy this one as well. This guy really seems to have a talent, for spinning out a few good anecdotes.

Interesting Book as whole but a little bit on the simplistic side in its conclusion how people become sucessful. Being at the right time at the right place with the right backgroung is an important step in the direction of success but it still depends on the genic make-up of that person to take advantage of the circumstances.

I became a fan of Gladwell with Tipping Point, and this was re-enforced with Blink, and now with Outliers he has again hit a home run. His rock solid research teamed with his effective story-telling style take the reader on a fascinating journey into the why's of successful people. I don't know to what extent his research is leading-edge; I only know that it was new to me, and I found it absolutely fascinating. I found myself reading passages then trying to relate my reality to the research he was presenting.

We all know that the over achievers tend to have arrived where they got to by paying their dues - by working hard, in most cases harder than the rest of us. Gladwell doesn't dismiss this, but he does put it in context and by so doing busts a myth that I believe most of us hold - that while this is true in most cases there are the exceptions - those born with a talent or natural ability that allows them to achieve great success without trying. As he points out, there are no such people, but at the same time, he convincingly makes the case that great success certainly comprises more than just effort and desire.

As I read this review it strikes me I do not do the book justice. Better you simply take the advice of a Gladwell fan - and go get it.

Yes, "Outliers" is a terrific story and a rewarding read. And, in contrast to "The Tipping Point" and "Blink", the anecdotes are backed up by concise empirical evidence and footnotes. Is this science? Or is it sleight of hand?

For myself that is the magic of Mr Gladwell's writing - few others can sensationalise the obvious so well. Anything which elicits a "wow" reaction is usually an elaborate suggestability trick. And that's what this book is - a magical style, presenting a collection of forgotten truisms in a pallatable and entertaining format.

This book was amazing. It held my attention for most of the way.

The book discusses outliers (exceptional people) to see why they are exceptional. It discusses the nature and nurture of such people to see how their backgrounds, IQ etc. impacted the great things that they did.

I never realized birth month mattered in anything but apparently it does in certain sports (hockey, soccer).

10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert - in anything.

The author proves with his various examples that successful people are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. Such people succeed via a combination of ability, opportunity and arbitrary advantage. In addition, culture and upbringing matter. He compared the parenting styles of the rich vs. the poor and showed that the upbringing affected whether they became successes. Success arises out of the steady accumulation of advantages - when/where born, parents' careers, circumstances of one's upbringing. These things determine how well you do in the world.

Chapter 5, the 3 lessons of Joe Flom was the most boring chapter - too much detail, too much history, too long and just boring. It labored to make its point.

Chapter 7 highlighted the impact of cultural behavior on plane crashes. This was quite amazing to me.

Chapter 8 showed that the structure of numbers in the Asian language as well as their work ethic from growing rice make Asian children better mathematicians.

The last chapter gave a painful and sad history of the color complex in Jamaica in the context of the author's family. How it came about, how his family benefited from being light-skinned in Jamaica and how they got ahead because of it. It was unpleasant for me to read. It angered me actually because I felt badly for all the people of darker complexions who were discriminated against by their own fellow "black" brethren because they were too dark. They probably missed out on so many opportunities to advance and succeed.

The book was great though. It just proved that our notion that it is the best and brightest that effortlessly rise to the top is much too simplistic.

Grammatical/Spelling Errors found (only found 2):
1. Page 43, line 10 - the second if should be it.
2. Page 266, last line of first paragraph - replace then should be replace them

Some ovbious points that are easy to agree with. Birthdates, practice makes perfect, more work less fooling around etc.

Where Malcolm fails is in his bleak and poorly researched conclusions vis a vis education. KIPP schools are not the best (or the only) alternative.

He also (deliberately?) appears to misuse a quote from Horace Mann, implying he was in favour of less strenuous/rigourous public education? Perhaps Malcolm should be directed to the Wiki entry on Horace Mann and/or try visiting some of the many Coalition of Essential Schools sites across the USA which attempt to apply some of this Mann's more important ideas.

I would expect more of Malcolm, particularly on a topic of such importance as education.