A good read to explore the idea that outliers have more to do with dedicated work, cultural heritage, and circumstantial opportunities. I like Gladwell's stories in explaining these ideas, but I don't know enough about the research to validate the ideas. ( )

How people become successful. Lots of food for thought, part the system, part lucky timing and part persistence. ( )

Much like the other Gladwell book I've listened to, _David and Goliath_, this one certainly proves the point that Gladwell can weave together a good story. I don't know that I can take it much further. I didn't find that the book offered any real insights into how to be a success other than the 10,000 hour rule (work at something for 10,000 hours and you have a better chance of being successful). ( )

"We need to look beyond the individual". This quote reflects on what this book is all about. ( )

Malcolm Gladwell is a different type of psychology book than I usually read. He has a place introducing ideas in broad strokes, but it’s a lower tier of informative than books written by psychologists who have broad understanding of the research and have done some original study of their own. If you want an extremely accessible introduction to the idea of expertise and the value of practice, this is OK.


If you want a well sourced, more comprehensive understanding of what the research does and doesn’t say, and how to apply the principles supported by the research, read Peak by K Anders Ericsson and Robert Poole. It’s denser, but it discusses some of the flaws of Gladwell’s presentation and is overall held to a more rigorous standard. ( )

Gladwell invites the reader to look deep into "outliers' exceptions to a rule, to truly understand how they have come about. He looks at a series of cases, from the well-known to the obscure, to establish patterns and show underlying reasons for the exceptions that achieved success.

The reading is compelling and the cases are always interesting. However, the main theme and the conclusion seem almost incidental to the book, summarily treated, and sometimes I was wondering why I was reading what I was reading... a better follow-through and stronger conclusion, recapping findings and tying them together, is definitely missing.
Overall it does provide an interesting perspective that might lead to a better understanding of edge cases, but it does lack a constructive summary. ( )

Gladwell is the “myth buster” of psychology and sociology. He takes commonly held assumptions and shows, based on his analysis, they are either not true or limited. In this book, he looks at phenomena outside of our normal everyday experience. He posits that if we examine the lives of outliers (such as Bill Gates, Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Joy, and the Beatles), it will provide insight into how to improve our world. He wants to change the way we think about achievement and success. There is an ironic element in this work, as one of his findings is that outliers can be explained by ordinary factors, such as opportunity, hard work, practice, environment, cultural legacy, luck, and being in the right place at the right time in history.

The author explodes the myth of individualism (which he calls the “self-made man”) and “the best and the brightest.” He believes we are squandering talent. He examines such unlikely topics as rice farming, airline accidents, hockey, and musical auditions. He ends the book on a personal note by taking a look at his family history. I am not sure some of these wide-ranging topics completely support his theories, as there are many more variables than those he singles out, but I found it informative and worth my time.
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Very interesting book about the hidden patterns which determine how extremely successful people ("outliers") get to where they are. It seems like many discussions of this book seem to point to the 10 000 hours theory as a major point, but that was the least interesting part to me. Gladwell argues that success comes from a fortunate combination of a number of factors out of our control-- perfect birth dates, being at the right place at just the right time, being among particular socio-economic classes, etc. He shows that it isn't only because successful people have worked hard that they are so successful, it's because they happen to live in certain conditions which gave them the perfect opportunities to lead them toward their sucess. Gladwell is an excellent writer with a knack for storytelling-- not in the sense that he's making up things but he knows how to take a true story with real facts and tell it in a way that is exciting and engrossing.
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Outliers is worth your time to read. It's entertaining, challenges the status quo, and make you think.

the book is very imperative for everyone because on this Earth all want to be a successful. ( )

this book is worth your time to read. Its entertaining and makes you think. ( )

I read this in 2020, though this review was not written contemporaneously.

It has a big reputation, and is easy to read. It has a number of interesting stories, which Gladwell tells well. Examples include:
- how the majority of successful sports people are born towards the beginning of the calendar year
- the myth of Bill Gates' developing Microsoft from almost nothing overnight
- the Beatles success being based on significant work in Berlin before taking off in England and elsewhere.

All very interesting but I could not see where Gladwell takes this somewhere...what do we learn from this? what should 1 do differently knowing what I know now?

Big Ship

22 August 2022 ( )

Thoroughly enjoyable read, very smoothly written. Can easily finish this in a weekend.

Most enjoyed the sections about the Beatles and Korean co-pilots (something quite horrifying about black box recordings though!)

The book gives you quite a humbling feeling and makes you take stock of how lucky you are.

Parenting lessons from the book (don't take this too seriously)
1) Get your kids playing piano from 3 years old, by the time they're 20 they'll have 10,000 hours of practice.
2) Teach your kid Chinese/Korean/Japanese so maths is easier for them.
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Fascinating ( )

Very interesting look at who succeeds and why. Skill is not always the case. When you were born effects being a professional athlete, where your family is from effects academics. There are so many variables besides intelligence, talent, and skill. Very very interesting look at people ( )

I haven't read it for a long time. But it helps to know what a left handed smart person thinks like. However in Outliers he talks too much about situations the average person could never relate to. ( )

Brilliant! I am seeing the world with new and hopeful eyes. ( )

Malcolm is on a short list of authors whom I must read everything they write. I really did enjoy Outliers. Not as much as Blink or Tipping Point but still a 5 star book.

Though it is a non-fiction book, Malcolm makes for a wonderful story teller. You could really start to feel for the people for the people he portrays. But hey, we really read his books for new insights and for new perspectives.

I do wonder about the whole Asian math thing - especially the Guang Zhou part - since I was actually there two months ago for the first time in my life. I wanted to see my family's village and I have to admit, I saw a lot of people playing mahjong - not working in the rice paddy.

But I am grateful for him offering some kind of answer to the Asian gift of math because parents are constantly asking me that question. Usually, I just say something about the parents expect it out of their children. It's ingrained in the culture.

Like in the American culture, the norm is to work 40 or more hours a week, get a driver's license at 16, vote at 18, drink at 21 (at least in Arizona) but these are all cultural truths - not universal ones. It's all in the culture! I had friends in school getting money and cars for their substandard grades comparable to mine. For weeks, I get grief for the one B on my report card.

And there is something about culture of respecting authority. Like the Chinese kid (like me) would hate their parents for pushing them so hard in math, but since the kids won't push against parental authority, they will push to excel in math.

I saw so much of myself in the Korean Airlines part of book because it's taken me longer than I realized to adjust to the American culture. But I learned enough to tell you to read this book. Oh, wait that sounds too passive. READ THIS BOOK, you tortoise pink loofah sponge



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Being born in the right place at the right time with the right talent and the right opportunities is the formula for success.

Not since "Who Moved the Cheese?" have I hated a book so much. ( )

Audiobook read by the author.
3.5***

Subtitle: The Story of Success.

Gladwell looks at hugely successful people who are “outliers” … far out of the norm. Examples include Bill Gates and The Beatles. He tries to explain how luck, opportunity, and the right birth year or month help these people succeed. Of course, ten thousand hours of practice is also a key element. (Not that I ever wanted to be a hockey star … being a girl from south Texas, I didn’t even see a hockey game until I went to college … but apparently, I was doomed from the start because I was born in December. So, if I HAD been interested, I would probably have been better off practicing the piano more often.)

I was interested in what Gladwell had to say and found the various essays easy to absorb and understand.

Gladwell narrates the audiobook himself. I cannot imagine anyone else doing a better job. However, the audio lacks the graphic depictions (charts, or sample IQ test questions), so I was glad I had a text copy of the book for reference. ( )

I found this book immensely readable, and like all of Gladwell's books, very interesting, and thought provoking. What made this such an engrossing read for me was Gladwell's use of antecdote, and following the stories of individuals. That said, I viewed some of his theories with a bit of skepticism, and other reviews I have read note that Gladwell definitely cherry-picks his sources and does not always demonstrate a good grasp of statistics. ( )

A friend lent me this book months ago, and I finally cracked it open, thinking I would give it 20 pages before giving up. I read over 200 pages in one sitting. Gladwell's research repeatedly blew my mind and had me thinking about my own life, full of happy accidents and luck that created the life I enjoy today. Fascinating read with important considerations for most of our social infrastructures (which, I realized, are often completely arbitrary and as such, completely boxing out deserving, talented, and capable people). Gladwell's vision for a richer society is contagious, but the pessimist in me is certain we are too entrenched in tradition and habit to see the change he advocates. ( )

3.5. Fascinating study but I liked David and Goliath better. ( )

I like the central messages of the book, that you don't get anywhere by yourself, that genius is a myth, that we all need luck.

I hope no one takes this to mean that the only way you can be successful is by being born in the right year to the right family in the right place with the right culture. He was talking about people who were off the charts. You don't need the full 10,000 hours to be amazingly good at something. You don't need to be one of the top 100 in your field to have a successful life, you don't need all the stars and constellations to be aligned perfectly on your birthday. That's just how certain legends are made.

Well he obviously cherry picks examples. That doesn't take from it.
Another thing was it kind of reminded me of a few essays I wrote in college: at the beginning I had no idea what the essay was going to be about, but I started writing some really interesting things I'd found. Then as I went to long I realized there was some kind of connection between them and I went back and put in a few lines to bring it all together.
It kind of feels like he had some leftover notes from Tipping Point and he just found an angle from which to present them. ( )

Fascinating. Would recommend, especially to those with a mind tuned for scientific inquiry. ( )