Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell releases another Pampatalino book! That’s just my categorization for non-fiction books that are teeming with interesting information. His books are very well-written theses on social phenomena.

Tipping Point was an exposition on epidemics and similar processes, i.e. how big changes are brought about. Blink was on how people seem to discern or know things in an instant (The Power of Thinking Without Thinking). For his third book Outliers, Gladwell focuses on extraordinary success (and failure) stories.

Success stories abound and we inevitably hear about how intelligent, forward-thinking or ambitious successful people are. What not usually revealed are the extraordinary circumstances or opportunities that came their way. In two cases, the birth month or the birth year were significant advantages. But that is not all. Not only did successful people take advantage of the opportunities, they also invested hours and hours of effort before they really had it made. And in cases where the salient factors are equal (a roomful of geniuses for example), then effort becomes the determining factor. Apparently, there’s a 10,000 Rule for success. Gladwell cites The Beatles and Bill Gates as examples for this study.

Highly recommended.

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