Outliers: The Story of Success

Product Description
In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.


Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."

Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there's more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples--and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps--Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential. --Mari Malcolm

What It Really Takes to Be Successful.
This book contends success is not merely a product of intelligence and hard work alone. Contrary to the solid American myth, chance and culture play critical roles in making people successful. The first two factors: IQ and effort are mandatory, but the second two: chance and culture are also crucial to producing success. Gladwell posits a "10,000-Hour Rule" in any field of endeavor to become an expert, along with a reasonably strong IQ. However, cultural norms, ethnic backgrounds, economic markets and other (often random factors) were instrumental in the successes of Beatles, Bill Gates, Korean pilots, and inner-city school children.

The take-away is an awareness of your circumstance, not just your effort and IQ, as a critical factor in your success. Readers of this book should take a hard look at the natural advantages the world is offering to help them become successful.

Worthy Read: Gladwell's Intent
No, it [excellence] doesn't start with talent, it starts with love.
---Malcolm Gladwell on Jimmy Kimmel Live (1-13-09)

Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
--Langston Coleman

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The zeitgeist in the world of practice is the 10,000 hour rule, a fact that first appeared in Ericsson's research into excellence. Basically, it means that if you practice a thing for 10,000 hours, you'll become a master at doing it. It's an oft-quoted statistic and is an important factor in all the books I've reviewed in this blog, and it's no surprise that the 10K rule also appears in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success (and the talks about it). But the 10K rule is an oversimplification. More on this at the end of the review.

Gladwell has produced similar popular books (Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference). His writing has received some criticism, most notably a scathing New York Times review, a paper that has published Gladwell's writing since 1996. This and other criticism fail to take into account that Gladwell produced exactly the kind of book he set out to produce: something that is interesting to read and which gives us an intriguing take on a Big Idea. To criticize the work for its lack of scientific rigor or flawless logic is to miss the point entirely.

The book, like much of Gladwell's writing, is full of anecdotes and interesting facts about people who have proven their excellence, people from Bill Gates to professional hockey players. Gladwell's focus is not on the individual but on the myriad circumstances surrounding that person's success. It's an approach that has more of the nurture than nature in it. He finds, not surprisingly, that there are many complex factors that go into anybody's success, and some of it is luck, but there is no luck without significant hard work, and the support of many people and circumstances. Again, no surprise.

I found the book enjoyable, and worth reading. His take on the ideas is intriguing, and although there is nothing particularly revelatory in the book, I don't believe this was Gladwell's intent. His intent was to write an entertaining book that is more a conversation than a compendium on what excellence is, and in that sense he's succeeded. It's broken into chunks of about 1,500 words, a practice that Gladwell uses because he believes that's a size that most people are willing to sit still for. His sales figures seem to support this approach.

What I found myself searching for, and which I didn't find much of, was a more specific look at the 10K hour rule. Gladwell does correctly say that passion must be a part of the equation, or there would be no will to put in the 10K hours. Surprised? Of course not, but at least one detail of the 10K hours is touched upon, but few others.

This has been the same critique I've had of all the books on this subject (and much of the research) I've read so far. This isn't a critique of the writers, because they're not focused on the makeup of the 10K hours. But it's what I'm interested in, and probably millions of others who practice music (or anything else for that matter). What is within those 10K hours? How do they play out? If I sit in a room and play an F on my trumpet four hours every day until, after 10 years, I reach the 10K hour mark, I will not be a master trumpet player. There is much more to the 10K rule than just putting in the time.

Stay tuned to my blog ([...]) to find out exactly what's inside those 10K hours, at least in the field of music.

Gladwell has woven together an exceedingly interesting story.
Outliers: The Story of Success
Review by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD.

In his 320-page book (only 180 of text according to one reviewer's estimate), Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, a professional writer, has woven together an exceedingly interesting story. He is a terrific writer, a fact well illustrated in both Blink and The Tipping Point. His thesis is that to be successful in life, upbringing, culture, luck, and privilege matter. He debunks the myth that high intelligence or where you were educated are of concern. Success has everything to do with "practical intelligence," along with your willingness to put in the 10,000 hours of practice required to reach mastery in your field. The information related to "practical intelligence" can be found in Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence (a book I highly recommend). If you aren't familiar with some of Gladwell's ideas or topics, you will find this book a good introduction or starting point. If you're looking for a book that includes original research, deep analysis, or the support of other writers and thinkers on the topic (e.g., opinions, quotations, testimony, or references), this is not the book for you because Gladwell is not a social scientist, nor is he a journalist or deep thinker. However, if its a light, fluffy read to which you are attracted, this might be a good choice.

Excellent book.
I learned a great deal from reading this book. I teach business and economics at the university level. I will definitely use some of the material in this book in my freshman university lectures.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Outliers: The Story of Success & More...

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