- Pub. Date: November 2008
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
- Pages: 320
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis
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.
Review
Gladwell has a unique way of taking facts that seem fairly grounded and making you wonder if you ever really knew anything about the world. I always find his writing enjoyable because he does such a find job of wrapping up his point, and connecting the dots in a fashion most would never even consider.
For a little background, 'outliers' is a mathematical, or statistical, term that describes data that is outside the normal parameters of what is typically found, and messes up the average. An example of this would be that the 'average' person can type 70 words a minute - if there's one guy who, for some reason is a real whiz with a keyboard and can type 200 words a minute, that one person would change the average significantly. This skews the finding - Gladwell is saying that there are people in the world that are way out there successful, like outliers in statistics.
Unfortunately, he also makes the point that the circumstances in which they were raised, as well as many other variables that cannot be changed are the reason behind them being successful. I say unfortunate because it is mildly depressing to read this and think, "darn...this doesn't apply to me," or as the reviewers at B&N so elequently stated as the best headline for the book: "Gladwell: Life Unfair." Despite this, it's a fun read and is packed with all sorts of random tidbits that are interesting to know (like Terman's Termites. Really?! I can't think of any other way I would come across this).
Gladwell has a unique way of taking facts that seem fairly grounded and making you wonder if you ever really knew anything about the world. I always find his writing enjoyable because he does such a find job of wrapping up his point, and connecting the dots in a fashion most would never even consider.
For a little background, 'outliers' is a mathematical, or statistical, term that describes data that is outside the normal parameters of what is typically found, and messes up the average. An example of this would be that the 'average' person can type 70 words a minute - if there's one guy who, for some reason is a real whiz with a keyboard and can type 200 words a minute, that one person would change the average significantly. This skews the finding - Gladwell is saying that there are people in the world that are way out there successful, like outliers in statistics.
Unfortunately, he also makes the point that the circumstances in which they were raised, as well as many other variables that cannot be changed are the reason behind them being successful. I say unfortunate because it is mildly depressing to read this and think, "darn...this doesn't apply to me," or as the reviewers at B&N so elequently stated as the best headline for the book: "Gladwell: Life Unfair." Despite this, it's a fun read and is packed with all sorts of random tidbits that are interesting to know (like Terman's Termites. Really?! I can't think of any other way I would come across this).
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