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Outliers: The Story of Success
by
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 ...more
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 ...more
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Hardcover, 309 pages
Published
November 18th 2008
by Little, Brown and Company
(first published 2008)
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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 ...more
While I can see a different way of spinning the data provided to support ...more

When I think about Malcolm Gladwell, the first phrase that comes to mind is "less than meets the eye."
At first glance, his work seems thoroughly researched, even visionary at times. Beginning with a few maverick, counter-intuitive insights, he often ends with an affirmation of consensus, but it is a consensus that has been broadened by investigation and enriched by nuance.
On second look, however, I'm no longer sure any of this is true. What first appeared to be new insights are nothing but ...more

I know, you don’t think you have the time and there are other and more important books to read at the moment, but be warned, you do need to read this book.
There are a number of ways I can tell a book will be good; one of those ways is if Graham has recommended it to me (how am I going to cope without our lunches together, mate?). And there is basically one way for me to I know that I’ve really enjoyed a book, and that is if I keep telling people about it over and over again. Well, not since ...more
There are a number of ways I can tell a book will be good; one of those ways is if Graham has recommended it to me (how am I going to cope without our lunches together, mate?). And there is basically one way for me to I know that I’ve really enjoyed a book, and that is if I keep telling people about it over and over again. Well, not since ...more

Didn't exactly read this book - Joe and I listened to it in the car on the way home from visiting family for Christmas. I really enjoyed it, and was very fascinated by certain parts of it, especially the sections about the Beatles, computer programmers and Korean co-pilots.
But my enjoyment of the book was marred by the glaring absence of any well-known female "outliers." By chapter four or so, I noticed it and mentioned it to Joe, and then it just kept getting worse to the point that it was ...more
But my enjoyment of the book was marred by the glaring absence of any well-known female "outliers." By chapter four or so, I noticed it and mentioned it to Joe, and then it just kept getting worse to the point that it was ...more

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I can save you the trouble of reading the book: smart people don't automatically become successful, they do so because they got lucky. This rule applies to everyone including the likes of Bill Gates and Robert Oppenheimer. That's it. That's what the whole book is about. Gladwell looks at case after case of this: Canadian hockey players, Korean airline pilots, poor kids in the Bronx, Jewish lawyers, etc... Even with all this evidence it feels like he's pulling in examples that fit his theory and
...more

People are criticizing this book because it is not a journal article. Well guess what: we're not all sociologists. I have read plenty of journal articles in my own field (law). I'm in no position to read journal articles in fields outside my own. Having a well-written piece of mass-market writing is just the thing I need to access this information.
Another criticism of the book is that Gladwell is the "master of the anecdote." Well, it seems to me that ALL SOCIAL SCIENCE is in some sense ...more
Another criticism of the book is that Gladwell is the "master of the anecdote." Well, it seems to me that ALL SOCIAL SCIENCE is in some sense ...more

Here's what I wrote earlier. I have to admit to the more I think and talk about the book, the less I think of it. It all seems too superficial.
A pretty interesting book, albeit with not quite as many "knock me over with a feather" moments as Blink. It starts off with a bang, as he discusses amateur hockey teams and how it was noticed that virtually all the players on an Under-18 hockey team came from the first three months of the year. Turns out the age cutoff is January 1 in Canada, so the ...more
A pretty interesting book, albeit with not quite as many "knock me over with a feather" moments as Blink. It starts off with a bang, as he discusses amateur hockey teams and how it was noticed that virtually all the players on an Under-18 hockey team came from the first three months of the year. Turns out the age cutoff is January 1 in Canada, so the ...more

Well, it's official: Malcolm Gladwell has run out of things to say.
His prose is still lively and entertaining, and he maintains his famous I-look-at-things-differently-than-anyone-else attitude, but "Outliers" has so little meat that it would have more appropriately been published as a magazine article.
I think that the main value of reading Gladwell is that he plants a seed in your brain that encourages you to seek unconventional explanations for familiar phenomena. That's a very healthy thing, ...more
His prose is still lively and entertaining, and he maintains his famous I-look-at-things-differently-than-anyone-else attitude, but "Outliers" has so little meat that it would have more appropriately been published as a magazine article.
I think that the main value of reading Gladwell is that he plants a seed in your brain that encourages you to seek unconventional explanations for familiar phenomena. That's a very healthy thing, ...more

I skimmed this book instead of reading it. I didn’t entirely love it.
Although the author makes some interesting points, I find some of the correlations he tries to draw a little silly. Like the Italian community in Pennsylvania where people are healthier and live longer because they have a sense of “community” or the fact that Southerners react more violently to certain situations than Northerners because they derive from a “culture of honor.” Sounds like extrapolated horseshit to me, especially ...more
Although the author makes some interesting points, I find some of the correlations he tries to draw a little silly. Like the Italian community in Pennsylvania where people are healthier and live longer because they have a sense of “community” or the fact that Southerners react more violently to certain situations than Northerners because they derive from a “culture of honor.” Sounds like extrapolated horseshit to me, especially ...more

Recommend to: If you like exploring phenomenon beyond their appearance and if you enjoy story-telling writings about factual subjects, here: success
What this book is about: Here, the famous columnist, Malcolm Gladwell deeply investigates the topic of success and people or nations with far beyond average achievements whom he calls "outliers" to figure out what has contributed to their accomplishments.
Pros
The way Gladwell observes and concludes is so enticing and far different from what you might ...more
What this book is about: Here, the famous columnist, Malcolm Gladwell deeply investigates the topic of success and people or nations with far beyond average achievements whom he calls "outliers" to figure out what has contributed to their accomplishments.
Pros
The way Gladwell observes and concludes is so enticing and far different from what you might ...more

Malcolm Gladwell writes very interesting and entertaining books. J.R.R. Tolkein writes very interesting and entertaining books as well. However, after reading Tolkein, I did not venture out into the world in search of hobbits, dwarves and elves to be my new friends, or worry about being attacked by trolls. Tolkein's books, while entertaining, have little connection to reality. Unfortunately, the same can be said about Gladwell. "Outliers" is a series of well-written and interesting essays along
...more

Outliers. Or as it should be called, "Outliers don't exist." I not only couldn't put it down, but my wife feels like she's read it now too.
It starts with a story about a town whose inhabitants only ever die from old age (i.e., not from cancer or ANY OTHER problem) and quickly goes into a story about hockey players in Canada.
For some reason the best hockey players are born in January through March and rarely any time after. The reason - it's all because of the date of the cut-off for playing ...more
It starts with a story about a town whose inhabitants only ever die from old age (i.e., not from cancer or ANY OTHER problem) and quickly goes into a story about hockey players in Canada.
For some reason the best hockey players are born in January through March and rarely any time after. The reason - it's all because of the date of the cut-off for playing ...more

The term I've coined for books such as these is "the illusion of erudition."
We love the anecdotes, many a form of comfirmation bias---the author telling us what we want to hear (cha-ching)---and we feel oh so much wiser once the wheels of the plane touch down on the runway at our destination because of having read a book such as this on our flight.
====================================
The famous, or infamous concept of the 10,000 "rule" in this book is not real. In a 2012 paper in the British ...more
We love the anecdotes, many a form of comfirmation bias---the author telling us what we want to hear (cha-ching)---and we feel oh so much wiser once the wheels of the plane touch down on the runway at our destination because of having read a book such as this on our flight.
====================================
The famous, or infamous concept of the 10,000 "rule" in this book is not real. In a 2012 paper in the British ...more

Jan 19, 2009
Claudia
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
all non-fiction fans
Recommended to Claudia by:
Bob and Shirley
Shelves:
nonfiction
"Outliers" those wildly successful people, for whom 'normal rules don't apply.' Are they just lucky, talented? Maybe...but, outliers may not be outliers after all...after reading the entire book, I was slapped by that at the very end. Gladwell looks closely at success, and those who seem to have waltzed into incredible success...Canadian hockey players, who just happened to have been born in the right month of the year; Bill Gates, who just happened to go to a school where the PTA moms bought a
...more

I don't know about Malcolm Gladwell. I've read 3 of his books. All of them fine, but nothing special. All of them fairly superficial with nothing original or innovative. I think his books are very pop culture and should be read in the time frame (say within a year) that they are published. Too long after that and they become stale, not prolific or prescient. Gladwell is a very good and interesting writer, but I don't think his books have much depth or staying power.
Almost 3.5 Stars
Read on ...more
Almost 3.5 Stars
Read on ...more

"If only I'd read this book earlier," the old man sighed. He shook his head sadly. "I was at the wrong end of the cut-off age. I'd have made a champion swimmer...". His voice trailed off.
"Hmmm."
He sighed again. "Then there's this 10000 hour rule. What the hell am I supposed to do about it now? The only thing I have 10000 hours practice is of scrunching my nose when my wife farts. And even that is more due to habit now. You get used to the smell pretty quickly." He shook his head again. "It's the ...more
"Hmmm."
He sighed again. "Then there's this 10000 hour rule. What the hell am I supposed to do about it now? The only thing I have 10000 hours practice is of scrunching my nose when my wife farts. And even that is more due to habit now. You get used to the smell pretty quickly." He shook his head again. "It's the ...more

Here is my animated review!
youtu.be/5HUjk6Zf0xg
This book made me think about the advantages and disadvantages connected to the birth date, place and few other things most kids can't change.

youtu.be/5HUjk6Zf0xg
This book made me think about the advantages and disadvantages connected to the birth date, place and few other things most kids can't change.

Nov 19, 2008
Ben
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
those interested in sociology or the oustide factors involved with success.
Shelves:
sociology
This is not a feeling oriented review like those that seem to be getting esteem here. While this is a well-researched and easily readable book that makes some interesting points, most of its contents are pure common sense.
In a world so highly populated with such strong inequities, of course there will be a lot of luck and chance involved with how someone turns out, aside from those that result from innate ability. You already knew that, right? So, shouldn't specific ideas and remedies be ...more
In a world so highly populated with such strong inequities, of course there will be a lot of luck and chance involved with how someone turns out, aside from those that result from innate ability. You already knew that, right? So, shouldn't specific ideas and remedies be ...more

In just one week, this book transformed a relatively normal woman into someone who's been saying, "Well, in this book I'm reading. . . you know, Outliers? Yeah, there's this section on. . . there's this part about. . . You should read this chapter. . . No, no, just wait here and let me read these 3 pages out loud for you. . . Have you read it? Oh, you haven't? Let me just show you this one page, it'll just take a minute!"
I can't think of one reason why you shouldn't join me in my enthusiasm.
I can't think of one reason why you shouldn't join me in my enthusiasm.

This was such an unexpected pleasure to listen to. The narration was fantastic. The information clear and written is such a way that I absorbed and considered the facts presented. For me that is amazing, I am easily distracted and seldom retain most information, ADHD yep. Some of the information seemed stretching, borderline ridiculous, but there were numbers to back the claim. I found his research on the learning systems around the world and the KIPP program the most interesting. It was just
...more

This has got to be Malcolm Gladwell’s best book yet, and coming from a fan like me, that’s saying something!
As the subtitle states, this is a book of success stories, and true to his usual style, Gladwell draws on a diverse and interesting set of examples and presents a unique thesis on the ingredients it takes to make a person a success. The first half of the equation is much like Carol Dweck’s thesis in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . Hard work matters much more than raw talent. In ...more
As the subtitle states, this is a book of success stories, and true to his usual style, Gladwell draws on a diverse and interesting set of examples and presents a unique thesis on the ingredients it takes to make a person a success. The first half of the equation is much like Carol Dweck’s thesis in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . Hard work matters much more than raw talent. In ...more

Wow! This book was incredible. This goes directly on the very tiny pile of books that I can say have drastically shifted the way I understand and view the world. I know I've heard this author's work referred to many times in other books and IRL, but I didn't realize how much of a paradigm shift in understanding human success and reality it actually was.
I'm both sad it took me so long to finally read this, and happy that I finally did!
I'm both sad it took me so long to finally read this, and happy that I finally did!

This is one of those books that give popular nonfiction a bad name. Which is unfortunate, because what could be better than books that both educate and entertain? But Outliers embodies everything that people who sneer at the genre are talking about: its conclusions are both obvious and simplistic, its writing persuasive but glib. It’s easy to see why Gladwell is a popular author: he’s a good storyteller, his writing accessible and entertaining. But this book is so riddled with oversimplified
...more

I listened to the unabridged copy while driving to/from Thanksgiving. Gladwell's books are often controversial because he tends to present only one side -- HIS side -- of an argument and gloss over anything that doesn't jive with his view. That said, the guy knows how to write and how to tell a story. His examples of why our success may be due to random uncontrollable factors like birthdate, family upbrining, and cultural background never fail to make me think "huh...that's interesting!"

“We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don’t matter at all.”
“Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.”
Blog Bloglovin’ Tumblr Instagram ...more

Malcolm, meet Fonzie. Fonzie, Malcolm. I think you two will get along well together now that you’ve both jumped the shark. I never wanted to introduce the two of them, but I sort of feel obligated to after reading Outliers. In this, his third book, Gladwell stretches his sociological study of all things common sense to its ultimate breaking point. The cover touts the book as an answer to the long-standing question that thousands have tried to answer before him: why is it that some people succeed
...more
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Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview
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“Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.”
—
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“Who we are cannot be separated from where we're from.”
—
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