Outliers: The Story of Success

In Outliers, journalist Malcolm Gladwell examines the accidents of birth date, language, heritage and culture which give particular individuals a head-start in life -- or, equally, result in catastrophic failures. Although journalistic rather than scientific in style, Gladwell makes a wide range of compelling points which become stronger the more you think about them. This is an exceptional book and -- unlike so many of the books of this type -- really does make a significant contribution to how we view our world.-I was on the point of giving up on this book after chapter three. Most books of this type seem to have just one chapter which is the book's real point, and I rather had the feeling that I had read it and was just getting more of the same. Not so! Rather than simply drawing evidence from further afield for his initial thesis that accidents of birthdate within the calendar are the biggest factor in sporting success, Gladwell goes on to look at accidents of language, of the type of economy we grew up in, of culture in the cockpit, and of shade of skin in the Caribbean. He draws out different conclusions from each one, including the surprising notion of intelligence threshold, where being clever _enough_ is more important than maximum IQ.The underlying premise, I suppose, is that success is inherently unfair. Somehow -- by going through his own family's history -- Gladwell turns this round right at the end to be something positive and life-affirming.An awful lot of the evidence in this book is 'evidence by inspection', and it sometimes comes perilously close to finding causation where there is only evidence of correlation. Nonetheless, Gladwell underpins his insights with strong argument, and in all but a couple of chapters I found myself convinced despite initial scepticism.It's very easy to criticise books like this for being more journalistic than scientific. Outliers, though, really is an idea-changing book, and it deserves the widest possible readership.

Compellingly and skillfully written. As someone who is around the same age as Bill Gates, yet missing the billions, I was deeply impressed by the material in the first half of this book. The author is adept at selling his ideas and I formed the impression that he had researched the examples extensively. Indeed, there are further details about his sources at the end. However, the second half seemed to drag a bit, for me (perhaps I was still depressed after reading the first half), but offered further support for the ideas presented in the first half. I'd recommend this book as a great read for anyone, and in particular for those who, like myself, may feel that they could have shone brighter, if only life had chosen them instead.

​Gladwell argues that success is tightly married to opportunity and time on task. He states that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to master something and that gives me comfort. It helps me feel better about my many failures at initial attempts to master things (like glazing pottery, algebra, Salsa dancing, skiing and sewing... to name a few). I kept thinking, "I've just got to put in more hours if I want to do better."While I can see a different way of spinning the data provided to support Gladwell's argument, I didn't care. In a rare moment, I found myself not wanting to argue. : ) Instead, I found myself reflecting on things that have felt like lucky opportunities in my own life. This reflection was very humbling.Moreover, I felt the text tugging at the need for greater equity. What could all the people with limited opportunities do if given greater opportunities? Think Darfur. How many people who might have come up with the cure for pancreatic cancer been forced to spend their time standing in lines waiting for clean water or food?My own personal experience as a teacher of refugees reflects Gladwell's primary thesis. Many of my refugee students are pre-literate. They have not been given the opportunity to gain a formal education. As a result, there are many well-intended, but misinformed people who place these students in special education courses or deem their I.Q. low, diminishing their opportunities even more.The students I teach are hungry for skills and spend hours outside of class practising. They make huge gains despite earlier opportunities denied them. While many will not go on to big colleges out of high school, I feel like given enough opportunity and time they could make it there. Sadly, many have families who depend on them to work to help financially support the family. (Yet, another limited opportunity to spend time focused on developing skills.)In the past week, I have shared Gladwell's thesis with my students. We have applied the 10,000 hours to master a task to reading and writing. I remind students that if we don't get our 10,000 hours this year together, they must continue on their own. I remind them that it IS possible to move forward if they are focused and keep adding hours of work to their reading and writing. We even write on the board how many hours left before we are masters."2 hours down, only 9,998 left to go."Friday, I had a student from Somalia smile and ask, "So it's not true that white people are smarter than black Africans? They just get more chances to read?" Imagine my pleasure when I could respond, "YES! That's correct. You are just as smart as any white kid in this school. It's just that some of them have been reading for years and you are just getting started."Thank you for your work Gladwell, it is salient in today's political conversation surrounding education (especially for our most vulnerable students who have been given the fewest opportunities).

This book demonstrates how the successes of the likes of Bill gates are largely due to accidents of being born at the right place at the right time.And how the marked achievements of the South East Asian peoples are in large measure due to how their culture of work and education was shaped by the growing of rice whereas that of westerners was shaped by our agriculture.Real ammo to use on genetic determinist -'I'm not a racist honest ' IDW right wingers.Also very moving, very sad but ultimately very uplifting,I feel that I really learnt something.READ IT

Big hit informative and interesting book just like Gladwell’s other book Tipping Point.

La condición en la que lo recibí fue inmejorable así como el tiempo de entrega. Este libro me mantuvo picada de principio a fin, disfruté mucho cada capítulo y me hizo querer retomar el hábito de la lectura.

Entrega ótima e produto perfeito.

The best book i can tell. And author explained very clearly

Super interesante y facil de leer