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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Penguin Books)
An Outlier, as defined in this book, is someone who is remarkably different than his peers. Someone, who through a combination of luck, opportunity and hard work, has achieved so much more than others.
In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explores many commonly held theories, and looks at them from a new angle. He examines the lives of achievers, to see if there is another explanation for their stellar success.
The first few chapters of this book made me feel a little depressed. I was born towards the end of the year, and it is a little late to start doing something for 10 000 hours in order to become a star. So it seemed that I was destined for mediocrity from birth.
But as I read on I felt myself feeling more and more inspired. Because I came to realise that with the exception of a few socialites and reality TV stars, the true Outliers of each generation, the ones who add value and leave a legacy, are people who grasped the opportunities that came their way, and used them to their advantage.
Maybe they were lucky to be born when or where they were, or were in the right place at the right time and were benefitted by a lucky set of circumstances, but they ran with it, and achieved what they did by hard work.
Especially in the second half of the book, where Gladwell examines cultural legacies, he shows that identifying a pattern in a society can show that ultimately it is hard work that overcomes stereotypes.
Many detractors of this book poke holes in his theories, calling them ‘anecdotal’, ‘junk science’, and ‘generalizations’. But I did not read the book as though it was the gospel truth.
I am sure someone with good reasoning skills and access to research data could prove some of his theories wrong. Instead I saw the book as a different point of view. It is a reminder that there is more than one way of looking at life, and that just accepting widely held opinions without question, is vey limiting.
Outliers is a very interesting book, and easy to read. It is very similar in style to ‘Freakonomics’, another book that I enjoyed immensely.
It was my first experience of the writing of Malcolm Gladwell, and it left me intrigued. I recommend this book, and I am already looking forward to reading some of his other books.
Read more reviews on Jackie's blog here and follow her on twitter here.
Keen on reading this book? Click here to either review the book or purchase your own copy.
Have you read Outliers? Did you like it? Have you read any of Malcolm Gladwell’s other books? Which one do you suggest I read next?
Sign up for women24's book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from Kalahari.net as well as a case of wine from Perdeberg.
An Outlier, as defined in this book, is someone who is remarkably different than his peers. Someone, who through a combination of luck, opportunity and hard work, has achieved so much more than others.
In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explores many commonly held theories, and looks at them from a new angle. He examines the lives of achievers, to see if there is another explanation for their stellar success.
The first few chapters of this book made me feel a little depressed. I was born towards the end of the year, and it is a little late to start doing something for 10 000 hours in order to become a star. So it seemed that I was destined for mediocrity from birth.
But as I read on I felt myself feeling more and more inspired. Because I came to realise that with the exception of a few socialites and reality TV stars, the true Outliers of each generation, the ones who add value and leave a legacy, are people who grasped the opportunities that came their way, and used them to their advantage.
Maybe they were lucky to be born when or where they were, or were in the right place at the right time and were benefitted by a lucky set of circumstances, but they ran with it, and achieved what they did by hard work.
Especially in the second half of the book, where Gladwell examines cultural legacies, he shows that identifying a pattern in a society can show that ultimately it is hard work that overcomes stereotypes.
Many detractors of this book poke holes in his theories, calling them ‘anecdotal’, ‘junk science’, and ‘generalizations’. But I did not read the book as though it was the gospel truth.
I am sure someone with good reasoning skills and access to research data could prove some of his theories wrong. Instead I saw the book as a different point of view. It is a reminder that there is more than one way of looking at life, and that just accepting widely held opinions without question, is vey limiting.
Outliers is a very interesting book, and easy to read. It is very similar in style to ‘Freakonomics’, another book that I enjoyed immensely.
It was my first experience of the writing of Malcolm Gladwell, and it left me intrigued. I recommend this book, and I am already looking forward to reading some of his other books.
Read more reviews on Jackie's blog here and follow her on twitter here.
Keen on reading this book? Click here to either review the book or purchase your own copy.
Have you read Outliers? Did you like it? Have you read any of Malcolm Gladwell’s other books? Which one do you suggest I read next?
Sign up for women24's book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from Kalahari.net as well as a case of wine from Perdeberg.
