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Outliers: The Story of Success | 
 enlarge | Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 2
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0316017922
Dewey Decimal Number: 302
EAN: 9780316017923
ASIN: 0316017922
Publication Date: November 18, 2008 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
A worthy read but ........ November 21, 2008
I have to give Malcolm Gladwell a hefty pat on the back for his attempt to capture the essence of success in Outliers: The Story Success. I also have to commend him for stressing the point that hard work, and to a degree, luck, is required to be successful. I spotted that tidbit while scanning through the book and decided that perhaps there was something here after all.
Gladwell may turn out to be this generation's Studs Terkel in that he has a need to look at subjects the rest of us take for granted.
I do have just a wee bit of a problem with his reluctance to ask questions about the studies he quotes. I also think that when Gladwell hits upon an idea that seems to work as an explanation for a conclusion (Asian math prowess and raising rice) he stops there; giving virtually no thought to the subject beyond that point. For example we've been growing rice in this country for centuries. Shouldn't we be equally advanced in mathematics as students of Asian ancestry? Why aren't we? Perhaps in something similar to the 10,000 hour rule we need to raise rice for another thousand years before we accrue any benefits from that activity. Obtuse? I don't think so.
When you look at Mozart, Oppenheimer, or any of the others cited, no one can argue that they were not world class successes; in one narrow aspect of their lives. Most were also miserable failures in other parts of their lives. Einstein was an absolute failure as a father and husband. Oppenheimer was disgraced by the American government. Mozart died in misery. Point to any successful personality and then take a second look.
Success comes from talent, intelligence, and a lot of hard work. I also very much like that Gladwell sees human workers as the backbone to corporate success even stressing that companies should invest in workers as a resource. This is an idea that is not new but has been floating around for fifty or sixty years. Perhaps, in the present economic debacle corporate leaders will begin to heed it.
The truth of the matter is that despite my problems with Outliers, I'm giving it four stars because it is a book that provokes thought, and we need a lot more of that in our society. Gladwell is an entertaining writer/researcher/thinker. I thought his book Tipping Point should be considered for book of the decade. Outliers, while not quite up to that level of quality is sure to be a successful book. Finally, Gladwell should be congratulated for turning out books like Tipping Point and Outliers. I may not agree with all of his conclusions but at least he's asking the right questions.
I recommend.
Peace always
 4 stars for fun, but 2 stars for originality November 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Gladwell has done it again...sort of. I would have categorized this book as a 4 or 5 star read like his previous two installments--Blink and The Tipping Point, except he lost a few originality points this time around.
Gladwell's knack for making a reader say "huh, interesting..." is something for other writers to marvel at. I'm convinced that he could pen a book called "Green: It's the color of grass," and he would write it in such a way that would inspire most of us to say "huh...who knew?!?"
But in the case of Outliers the "huh..." factor has little to do with the ideas found in the book, and are almost exclusively the result of Gladwell's keen sense of how to make the ordinary and mundane sound exciting and new. This is especially true in the two chapters devoted to debunking the myth that intelligence is the key to success. Unfortunately, Dan Goleman beat him to the punch way back in 1995 with his book "Emotional Intelligence: Why it matters more than IQ." With a quick sleight of hand, Gladwell cites Robert Sternberg's label of "practical intelligence," instead of calling it emotional intelligence. But let's be honest, here, the only difference is Goleman says "tem-ay-toe," and Gladwell says "tem-ah-toe."
The other flaw is that nothing in it is terribly useful for practical application. It's no secret to anyone in the business of hiring that most selection techniques are abysmal predictors of on-the-job success. What we are left with as a takeaway from Outliers is that factors of chance like the ability to practice a skill for 10,000 hours--mostly during childhood--is the key to predicting future success. Get your kids started today...as long as you know when the next Industrial Revolution or Internet Age is going to occur. Aside from emotional intelligence (aka "practical intelligence") most of these are factors that we just can't do much about. Unfortunately, we already knew that.
Alas, however, Malcolm Gladwell is a professional writer, and not a professional researcher. If readers keep that in mind, they won't be too disappointed by the methods or originality of the research. His job is to weave together an interesting story, which is something Gladwell does exceedingly well. If all you want is some good entertainment and fodder for cocktail party discussions, Outliers might make a nice addition to your bookshelves.
Good book, but suffers from Survivorship Bias November 21, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book, much like Gladwell's other books, is an enjoyable and educational read. He presents many interesting research findings in a cogent and very readable manner, weaving a tale of the importance of chance in success.
One issue I take with this book, is that it suffers from survivorship bias; he examines very successful people, like Bill Gates, and decomposes their lives to see what helped get them there; time and again, showing the importance of chance in people's success. This is not to say he is making the claim that chance is the sole reason for success, his book is replete with examples of the importance of practice & perseverance to attain success. Nevertheless, he does not analyze a cross section of people who had similar 'chance events' yet did not become the next Bill Gates or Malcolm Gladwell.
In the case of Bill Gates, he attributes a great deal of his success to the fact that Bill Gates had access to computers (every abnormal at that time) through a series of chance events, none of which was really in Bill Gates' control. Gladwell postulates that had this not happened, Bill Gates probably wouldn't be the richest man alive today.
However, to really determine the role that his access to a computer played (and thereby eliminating survivorship bias), Gladwell would need to examine every other child who had access to a computer at that time; surely Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren't the only ones who had access to a computer. Of those kids that did have access to computers, how many attained similar wealth? If it turns out that several thousand kids had access to computers, then this 'chance' might fairly be said to have contributed little to the success of Bill Gates.
This is not to say that the premise of this book isn't in part undeniably true, we are all where we are, due to chance events (or as Malcolm explains it: events that are beyond our control, due to familial, cultural or epochal reasons).
I recommend reading this book, as it is an engaging read, weaving together information from numerous disciplines; just be aware of the survivorship bias that exists throughout.
 Do you have outliers working for you? November 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This new book from Malcolm Gladwell will make executives think twice before they cut budgets on training that improves employee's skills. Malcolm shows us that the greatest talents can be developed, and this is certainly true in corporate America. As he says in Outliers, talent should be "thought about as something a company develops, rather than something that is `acquired'. He goes on to say that the most skilled individuals in a profession are made and not born.
Ability, according to Gladwell, is just one factor in success. He points to research that suggests that once you have enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. What's more, the people at the very top don't just work much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.
Practice does make perfect. The greatest athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians and scientists emerge only after spending at least three hours a day for a decade mastering their chosen field. This idea - that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice - surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours.
Outliers: The Story of Success suggests the importance of investing in communicating company mission, culture and skills. "Look around Wall Street, or what's left of it today," he says, "and you'll see lots and lots and lots of people from Goldman Sachs. That's not a coincidence. It's because they took their mission to invest in people seriously."
Gladwell argues that the state of today's economy is the perfect time to invest in talent development. "When it's easy to make money, you have no incentive to think about development of talent. Now, you're forced to." I couldn't agree more. Outliers is a great book and a fun read.
Another book (in the same style Gladwell uses in Outliers) that is also outstanding and I strongly recommend is The Impulse Factor: Why Some of Us Play It Safe and Others Risk It All
An intelligent, insightful look at unusual events and successful people. November 21, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have to admit I am a fan of Malcolm Gladwell's. I was impressed by his previous book, Blink, although I was was slightly disappointed towards the end of that book as I felt he was rehashing earlier examples and issues to make the book a little thinker than it otherwise would have been.
Outliers has no such problem. In fact, I would have been more than happy if he had been able to write another hundred pages. I devoured Outliers, and would happily recommend it to my family, friends, and enyone else who has any interest in anything remotely related to people. In fact, I will be giving a copy to my father for Christmas.
Citing many references, he explains how many people who seem to be successful are so not because they are purely talented, but because of a series of events which occur beyond their control, which those people with appropriate talent, drive and ambition, are able to take advantage of. Many such people happen to live in the right location, were born in the right year, go to the right school, or even born to parents of certain skin colour. They also have a lot of help and support from many people.
And counter intuitively, many of those who seem to be talented and high achievers, are simply those who have had the opportunity to achieve ten thousand hours of practice. If you are not as talented, it is not necessarily because you lack the talent, it is because you didnt put in the time, literally. The pianist example is very revealing.
As a non Caucasian, I connected with this book in several other ways.
I felt proud when he explained why Asians seem to be so good at Mathematics and such hard workers.
I could understand relate to his last chapter on the influence of skin colour. A Caucasian would not have been able to have such an insight. And yet it is written in the way the rest of the book is written, explaining clearly, without venom, and without political correctness, how the attitudes and actions of those in the past allowed certain things to happen in the future, which, in turn, lead to a successful individual.
This is a fine book. It is mind opening, with lots of details, yet is easy to read.
I most heartily recommend it.
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