Books : Outliers: The Story of Success
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 302
EAN: 9780316024976
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 031602497X
Label: Little, Brown and Company
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: November 18, 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: November 18, 2008
Sales Rank: 108139
Studio: Little, Brown and Company
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Editorial Review:
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.com Review:
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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This is a book that makes one reevaluate one's assumptions about personal success.The authors skill in pulling apparently extraneous examples into a powerful whole and a truly moving ending provides an extrordinary reading experience.Upon completing the reading of this book, I immediatly ordered the author's two other books.
Rating:  -
First, let me start by saying that I admire Malcolm Gladwell. He is a talented and engaging writer, and he has found a formula that works: He picks an interesting topic and creates a readable, anecdotal book around it. However, I was onto him when I read "Blink" (or TRIED to read it; I couldn't finish it) after I had read "Sources of Power" by Gary Klein. Both books deal with the way we make decisions based on our instincts, which is another word for the knowledge we accumulate. Mr. Klein's book is academic, well researched, filled with good examples and ultimately instructive. "Blink" is mostly fun and interesting. The difference between them is the same difference between a fine gourmet meal with quality ingredients and drinks and ribs with your friends at Houlihan's. Both are good experiences, but they serve different purposes.
Many of Mr Gladwell's examples are fascinating, such as how star hockey players tend to be born on a certain date or how an entire generation of lawyers schooled in hostile takeovers came from similar ethnic and economic bacgrounds. And his final chapter on his family's history and how the luck of the draw combined with seizing an opportunity gave them good lives. In the right hands, that chapter alone would make a fine mini-series on TV.
But in the end, "Outliers" is about serendipity. It does not teach the readers how to rise above their circumstances. In fact, I would suggest that the book can be divisive, as it makes successful people ... Read More
Rating: -
This book is an excellent read if you've ever posed the questions about success and upbringing that the author has on his mind. It's entertaining in this way, and makes some truly excellent points.
I'd like to make a couple of points about the presumptions of the book, though:
First, the importance of success in our culture is obvious, and of course, Gladwell never questions it. Success in career, and to a lesser extent money, is simply treated as everyone's ultimate goal. Obviously people want this for their kids, and the books best audience is the huge number of parents who want to raise their children in such a way as to grant them success. It's not exactly a secret to me that pure analytical intelligence isn't the only key to success, and Gladwell illustrates this extremely well.
Because success is so crucial to the material, the author could've spent a chapter or so really getting into the price of it. Many successful people simply aren't happy in my experience. They may feel that they are more important than others because of their value to the communities they inhabit, but whether or not that attitude is really beneficial to society isn't discussed. I love the opening story of the town of Roseta, and what it says about community involvement and health. Does it ever occur to Gladwell that, in a town made up mostly of slate mine workers and textile people, that the importance he places on success is irrelevant there, and probably better off ... Read More
Rating:  -
My hubby got this book for Christmas, and we both read it at the beach over the holidays. It was a quick read, but the facts and numbers and continual restating of what you had previously read did bog us down somewhat. If you like trivia or like knowing useless info about others, this is your type of book. Otherwise, the material is nothing to write home about (or Amazon?)
Rating: -
I have ready many books in my life and there are only a few which have any 'ah ha' moments for me. Outliers has one which I like: 10,000 hours. Terry Orlick in 'The Pursuit of Excellence' talks about someone needing a number (a lot) of hours in performing a skill, over and over again, in order to excel at it. Malcolm actually defines it: 10,000 hours. It is a rough guess, but it at least puts a stake in the ground. In researching neuronets and trying to define how many times in which a task or thought needs to be 'practiced' in order for a thought habit to form, I find Gladwell refreshing. The rest of the book you can keep -- this part was worth the 3 days it took me to read it.
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