I found this book absolutely fascinating! Malcolm does a superb job of sharing facts and statistics such that you easily see the importance and connection to amazing feats.

Throughout history we have idolized individuals who appear to distance themselves from everyone else and defy the limits we all face in becoming "great". People like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others. It is true that these individuals are truly extraordinary. This can be seen in their IQ's and hard work. But in reality they share these characteristics with many others throughout the world.

What leads these individuals to rise above and stand outside of the norm? Gladwell has done a fantastic job exploring these individuals, backgrounds, work ethics, genetic histories, training, IQ's and many other factors. He has pulled this information together to show that there are specific global events, historical racial conditions and opportunity for personal character and attitude development. When these conditions have come together, then extraordinary individuals rise to the surface and rise to tremendous heights.

Some of these factors can be engineered once we know they are needed (like providing opportunities for 150 hours of training). Many others are just the results of history and can't be anticipated.

It is true that each individual has their own hard work and effort to apply but "willingness" and "hard work" are not enough to "achieve anything you dream". As a believer, this causes me to give more glory to God than to humanity as I watch in amazement the individual achievement of the "Outliers".

Highly Recommended!