Outliers is simply a statistical abuse. Gladwell may have spent years putting together a piece of odd data to support his idea. Interesting but not convincing.

In a society where people crave instant success and celebrity over substance and hard work its nice to see someone put their finger on what it really takes to achieve. Share this book with someone young.

I guess I thought this book would tell me the party tricks to being successful. Well, I found out I was not born in the right month to be an athelete (that is the least of my worries as I am a clutz). I also found out I was not born on the right continent to be smart in math. I was also born in the wrong decade to be a successful computer nerd.

Although the information was interesting, I would have successfully saved some dough by checking it out at my public library. Now there is some good advice.

Outliers is a fun/interesting read. But it needs to be taken with a great deal of salt.........I just checked for the hell of it the birthdays of both hockey teams Canada and US, who just finished the Vancouver Olympics. Mr. Gladwell remarks regarding this topic is utterly false. One does NOT have to be born in Jan. or Feb. to succeed in hockey. The star Sydney Crosby was born on Aug.7th, Brooks Orpik Sept.26th, Ryan Miller July 17th, Marc Andre Fleury Nov.28th, and a famous " oldie " Mario Lemieux Oct.5th.........And the list goes on.......
Did Mr. Cladwell think we wouldn't check? Leads me to believe what else is " not so " in his fact reporting book?

I work in the material handling (forklift) business for Briggs Equipment. I found this book to be insightful and applicable to any business and personal situation. I have recommended it to numerous people. It brings to light the idea that outliers are actually opportunists that work hard at something and become experts. Being an expert takes some talent, some timing and absolutely 10,000 hours or more of practice. In our business we have techs with well over 10,000 hours and they are truly experts. Great book applicable to daily life. Read and enjoy.

In this book, Malcolm Gladwell explains that success is not a random act. Rather, it arises out of the steady accumulation of a powerful set of circumstances, opportunities and advantages such as culture legacies, generation, as well as family and community history. He also uses poignant examples, from Bill Gates to his mother's own experience, to show how success is a function of persistence and the willingness to work hard and to try, so that one can be ready when needed most. Therefore, according to him practice is one of the secrets of success in sport, business, art and science...Boiled down: If you want to shine, be ready to start putting in about 10.000 hours.

Malcom Gladwell made his name with a series of New Yorker articles and books that purported to show surprising ways in which the world world, and unseen principles that guided it. While Gladwell is a very skilled writer, he has large gaps in his education when it comes to science, economics, biology, history, anthropology... well, everything except writing. The result is that his books are a combination of what Gladwell has gleaned in speaking with specialists combined with his own instincts, and his instincts do not serve him very well.

At best, his books are an interesting read that climaxes in what amounts to a very shallow and obvious insight. Case in point, Outliers, the volume under review. After presenting numerous interesting histories of successful people, Gladwell presents us with the following lightning bolt: To be successful, it helps to have opportunities to succeed available to you. Put that way, it doesn't quite have the snap of Gladwell's prose, but that's what he's saying.

Problem is, even then Gladwell misses the fact that a lot of very successful people did not have opportunities easily available to them, and succeeded nonetheless.Thomas Edison was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in American history, and he didn't have very many lucky breaks. He was self-educated, partially deaf, and financed his early inventions as a peddler on a train. Henry Ford was involved in two automobile companies that failed before he struck success with his namesake company. Some succeeded multiple times; were they just that much luckier?

And even those who appeared to have been presented with a great opportunity, like Bill Gates, who was ready when IBM came calling, are misleading, because we don't know what would have become of Gates had IBM not come calling. Perhaps he would have made billions writing software, or creating a new financial company. Working backwards from the present, it's easy to to convince yourself that the outcome of an event was destined; working forward from the present, with an infinite number of possibilities open to you, it's not so clear.

At best, Gladwell manages to demonstrate that some successful people benefited by having opportunities available to them. But what he misses is something that's at the heart of a well known quote of Louis Pasteur's: Chance favors the prepared. Each of us may well be presented with a thousand opportunities in our lifetime like that which Bill Gates had with IBM; few of us are prepared to recognize them when they occur. And fewer still have the drive to take advantage of them.

Gladwell's witty deluge into "extremely successful people" provides fascinating stories of people outside the norm. Gladwell provides a unique success formula and correlates everything from why airplanes crash to why Asians are good at math. Fascinating!

The basic premise of the book is that statistical outliers have as much to do with forces outside of a person--upbringing, historical context, incidental opportunities, cultural forces, and even seemingly trivial things like your birth month.

Chapter 7
Gladwell examines the case study of Korean Air, which in the 1990s, became a statistical outlier for the rate at which planes would crash. In fact, the rate was seventeen times higher than the typical American carrier. He explores different factors that may have contributed to the aberration, and eventually hones in on one particular cultural legacy that had to be addressed before the ship could be righted.

The dynamic between pilots, first officers, and engineers is typically one of strong communication and accountability. Each must be ready to speak up and take control of any given situation. But in a culture with a high "Power Distance Index" like Korea (Gladwell explains Power Distance Index as "attitudes toward hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture values and respects authority"), it becomes that much harder for an apparent subordinate to speak-up to a superior. Commands are often mitigated to suggestions or implications.

Gladwell is deferential of Korean as a language: "There is something beautiful in the subtlety of the exchange, in the attention that each party must pay to the motivations and desires of the other." But in the context of an airplane cock-pit where hundreds of lives are in the balance, and the difference between life and death can be a matter of seconds, this type of intricate dance can have deadly results. Only when Korean Air addressed these issues, and empowered its officers and engineers to take control did the situation turn around.

Chapter 9
In another case study, Gladwell examines the difference in math scores across income-demographics in standardized testing. Numbers suggested that upper or middle-class homes performed better overtime as they progressed in years. But on rehashing the numbers, the author points out that the greatest differential in scores happened in the jump from June scores to September scores, while the differences in the jump in scores from September to June were minimal across the board.

Based on that, it seemed that those that came from middle or high-class homes gained in advantage over the summer months, while they were taking lessons and in academies. The implication is that the money allocated to education reform during the school year (better teachers, technology, classroom size, and so on) might be better allocated if they went to assisting students who did not have enrichment opportunities during those traditional vacation months. And more fundamentally, Gladwell questions the wisdom of instituting a three-month hiatus from studies, while international students and high-income students were hard at work getting ahead of those that were resting.

Conclusion
Outliers is an enjoyable ride. You're at the mercy of the author's research and genius as he jumps from case study to case study in seemingly unrelated categories. But he does a great job of connecting the dots and giving the reader a clearer picture of how statistical outliers are made, so often by forces outside of themselves.

I listened to this on my Ipod. It has given me a new outlook on why so many people are so successful in life. There is so much more than just being smart or athletic that makes someone so special or gifted. This book does an amazing job at identifying these important ideas and shows every one of us these things.

I would recommend this book to everyone.

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend at work - it was very intersting (to say the least) with the facts and analyses, and more than once I went "why, of course!" when a point was made: not because I already knew the answer, but the author had a nice way of leading you to it, based upon facts, that made the lghtbulb go off in your head.

I thought the first 90% of the book was great; the last part about his own familial history was interesting, but took away from his other points in the book.

I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

Readable, if in places windy and somewhat meandering ... the reader has to be wary of Gladwell's less than purist sampling. To put it bluntly he is unashamedly selective. Some of his conclusions on relationships are a stretch, such as why Asians working in rice paddies make them better mathematicians. The argument is convoluted going through Asian rice farmers being more rigorous, and working, longer hours than their European counterparts. A pleasant read, but I'm not driven to read his other works.

Outliers is an amazing book that discusses different examples of success. Non-intuitive insights are presented as a way of explaining success in terms of factors that transcend the "rags to riches" story lines that we are too often force-fed.

According to Gladwell, being successful depends on ability, opportunity, hard work, arbitrary circumstances, family history, and cultural legacy. Working hard is obvious but not so obvious were some of the other factors. Success is no accident as people do not rise up from nothing. Extraordinary achievement has more to do with opportunity than it does being talented.

Outliers was a fascinating book with many eye-opening moments. I highly recommend it for parents, teachers, and anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the factors that define success.

Outliers are Darwinian freaks of nature.

They are all just another event in an already operational system in motion. The good news is that MBAs eat this stuff up and make it much easier for those of us schooled in semantic intelligence to acquire significantly more resources, in less time, with greater precision, and at lower costs, and we do it at the expense of the outliers and the fans who populate the stadiums to watch the lions do what they do best.

Outliers are making life in the Age of Google for the few schooled in the art and science of semantic intelligence a walk in the park.

Some advise if you want to go down a different path. Start with How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning with additional material from the Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice (Author), National Research Council (Author)

Smile when you hear someone in conversation use "outlier" and be confident that they know they have no idea what they are talking about. Also, read anything by David Geary.

Thanks, Mr. G, it looks like another nice day for a walk in the park.

I was looking forward to reading Outliers by Gladwell. Unfortunately, I never received the book and my emails to the seller remain unanswered to this day. I will never order from these sellers again and have lost my trust to a great extent in Amazon. So, be warned, future book shoppers! If you really want to read a book, the library might be a more reliable, faster and less expensive choice. I gave it one star because I couldn't post my review unless I gave it one.

I expected to hate this book, under the mistaken assumption that it was some blowhard business self-help book. But it's a very sly book. Essentially, Gladwell is reminding us why affirmative action is important, while never actually making the case for it: give people access to what they need to thrive, and most will succeed. True, you can't solve for the luck of being born on a certain date, coming into a rising industry at just the right time, or having parents in particular lines of work (garment manufacture! who knew?!). But the case of the white-guy genius with the crappy life says it all: IQ is nothing without opportunity. It's a good read, too.

Gladwell explores the external factors involved in whether a person becomes successful. His very act of writing about these external factors in a society that likes to believe that everyone is on a level playing field makes this book an outlier in and of itself. It's definitely worth reading, as it makes you really think. Whether you end up agreeing with him or not, his ideas are still worth examining.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gladwell's thoughts and hypotheses as to what makes for success. He gives us plenty of food for thought as he delves into the opportunities and circumstances that differentiate the extraordinarily successful from the more average achievers, and I found his case studies to be fascinating reading. A very provocative book and an enjoyable read!

Gladwell has statistics that make sense about how achievement happens. It really is much about effort and hard work, though!

This was a very good audiobook. If you liked other books by Malcomb Gladwell, you will enjoy this one as well. The book points out that there are so many things that we could do differently in order to allow true talent to rise to the top. The sad fact is that we are leaving a lot of talent "on the table" due to some of the arbitrary things that we do as a society. I would recommend this book to educators, in particular.

This book will give you a lot to think about.

This book is a good read and the concept is quite interesting concept. Though it makes you wonder what control you may have over your own success.

I agree that the harder you work at something, the better you become. I also agree that when you work very, very hard at something that you really, really enjoy - and that particular thing happens to be at the cutting edge of a new world order - your chances of becoming a gazillionaire increase dramatically.

So that's it. 10,000 hours of practice at something people don't yet realize they can't live without...and you're in.

Of course, I've simplified it, but this is the fundamental tenet of Outliers.

From The Beatles to Bill Gates, you too can learn to appreciate the merits of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...and a lot of luck.

Of course, you could also read "Ozzy" and figure out how to become a rock star robbing Stop-and-Go's.

First, let's start with the obvious. The author of this book is successful, and I am not. Still, a lot of books have been written about success before (7 Habits, Good to Great, etc.), and what he is trying to do seems way too hard, making things too simple. Some thoughts about the book:
* More people on the Czech/Canadian Hockey teams were born in the early part of the year is true, but instead of people giving up hockey if people weren't born in the early part of the year as he suggests, some of the all-star players were born in December. (Similarly, according to Gladwell's logic, Obama should have given up trying for President, because all of the people before him were White.)
* He says that 14 of the 75 richest people in the world were born in the United States around 1835, the source given is Wikipedia, but it doesn't even meet their quality standards.
* Also that the best time to be born if you are starting in the computer industry was 1955. But, of the top 10 richest technology people in the United States in 2009 (Forbes), only 4 (Allen, Ballmer, Gates, and Eric Schmidt were born around 1955.) 3 of those 4 people are associated with Microsoft, so it seems to me like the best choice to be rich in the computer industry would be if you knew Bill Gates in high school or college.
* Gladwell says that above an IQ of 120, having a higher IQ doesn't provide any additional advantage, then gives lists of Nobel Prize winners of Chemistry and Medicine from the last 25 years in the United States, and the undergraduate colleges that people attended as evidence. First, it would be more compelling if he had given a list of all the Nobel Prize winners (except Peace) that presumably depend on intelligence. Just because someone went to University of Illinois or Holy Cross doesn't mean their intelligence isn't really high, say 160 or something like that. If he had provided a list of the IQ scores of the Nobel prize winners, then we could see if what he had claimed was true.
* Gladwell says, not all people with high intelligence are successful, which is true. But is there anything where people have a certain trait that are successful? Are all people that work 10000 hours at golf or programming or being in a band successful? Being physically abused like Chris Langhan was I'm just guessing but likely makes people less successful.
* The author says that Jewish lawyers became the most successful because they were outsiders and were born at the right time , and had family in the garment industry, but wouldn't there have been more Catholics that were outsiders and born around 1935, so be likely they would be as successful as Jewish lawyers were during that period?
* For some reason, the author stereotypes people from appalachia (i.e. a subset of white people), but doesn't stereotype any other american ethnic groups.
* Gladwell claims that Asians are good at math because their ancestors worked on rice fields, and they work harder then Americans do (in general.) But, if all you need is hard work for success, then why aren't there almost as many prominent law firms run by Asian Americans as there are Jewish Americans? And if all you need to be successful at math is effort then anyone can be actuaries. (But I couldn't pass the exams and I have math and statistics degrees.)
* As for the KIPP program, if teachers/school employees got paid more based on how many days they taught in school proportionally versus where they are now, then they would probably support it. But, where would the money come from?
So, basically, everyone wants to be successful, right. It seems to me like if you take risks, and it works out then you're successful, and if it doesn't work out, then you're a failure. A more interesting book on similar lines to this one is C. Wright Mills The Power Elite, which unlike Gladwell's easy, breezy style actually seemed like it actually took a lot of hard work and effort to write.

Fascinating how he shows how your upbringing and timing have such great influences over your life. His comment that if Canada had a hockey league for kids born July 1 to December 31 they would generate twice as many good players is intriguing and very well may be true. From a practical standpoint what I learned was the obvious benefits of very hard work in obtaining success.

Fascinating! It really puts the spotlight on critical reasons for success, whereby it's not just hard work and skill, but often "right place, right time". Thoroughly recommended.

What an utterly fascinating book. As an educator, I found it promising to read that to learn things it takes time and effort. That kids in China are spending considerably more time on a math problem than they do in the US (and it is because they know how to spend time on something to make it right...like rice farming) is amazing.

No matter who you are though, this book will pertain to you. Great, great book.

As someone who has been fortunately (more about that in a moment) successful in business I have hired and observed "successful" people. But that begs the question because little is said in this book about how it defines success. It seems to assume that means being at the forefront of your chosen endeavor. That does not translate automatically to success in life. The cases of self-destructive or otherwise unhappy highly "successful" people are too numerous.

In my experience people who possess so-called street smarts are more likely to rise to the top, regardless of background, intelligence or accomplishment. Whether ingrained or taught experimentally people who know how to "play the game" are far more likely to succeed in most endeavors, given even a modicum of expertise in their field. Just look at all the famous CEO's who have bankrupted one company only to be hired to run another. John Thain is the most recent, having presided over the downfall of Merrill Lynch only to be hired to run CIT. I have also seen where pure competence actually has proven detrimental to one's success when it threatens others in the decision chain. It's not good to outshine the wrong people.

A fellow executive once told me that the harder he worked the luckier he got. There is some truth to that but pure luck also plays a hand. The coincidence of skill set and need are the most obvious examples. One has to wonder if Bill Gates came to the marketplace today whether he would be as successful. The creative stagnation of Microsoft suggests not. Steve Jobs is an interesting counterpoint.

So I must join with others in commending Gladwell for his engaging writing but defer as to his insight.

All right, I realize I am bucking the trend here on this book, but I really didn't care for it. While I thought it was well written, and I found the facts amusing I disagree with the author's conclusions. Perhaps I just have too much of the "hard work equals success" paradigm in me, but I think this guy is wrong.

...Spoiler Alert....

The author makes the point that Bill Gates is who he is because of his unique opportunities, same with certain NY Jewish lawyers, hockey players, and 19th century industrialists. I agree with the role of opportunities (luck), and also with his assertion that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to really become world-class at something.

The point the author overlooks is opportunity cost, that is, what were Bill's other options, his "plan B". What did Bill give up to found Microsoft? So what if Bill was born at just the right time to catch the PC revolution, that doesn't mean that if he were born 5 years later he'd be making fries somewhere! That's like me saying that I define success as being Miss USA (I'm a 300+pound balding American male). Guess what, fate didn't deal me the cards to have a good shot at that crown (I'd loose swimsuit for sure), but that doesn't mean I'm a loser, or that I can't be an outlier and be exceptional at other things. I truly believe that the magic is to discover which opportunities are available, and then be prepared to take advantage of them.

As a counterexample, I'll offer up Arnold Schwarzenegger. Was he born to be a bodybuilder, a top action movie actor, or a politician? Regardless of what you think of his movies or his politics, this guy has reached the top repeatedly. The point is, I believe greatness is available to any of us if we can identify and accept the opportunities we do have, then work to get it. While no amount of work will win me that beauty contest, life does have other opportunities if I'm willing to identify and pursue them.

Outliers, like the rest of Gladwell's books, reels you in with its sensationalist themes, and claims of deep insight into the human or its society. But after lightly reading this large-print, thirty-dollar compilation of "studies", opinions, and idealistic suggestions offered by Gladwell, I felt a sense of emptiness--the same sort of emptiness felt after completing an hour of reality television.
This book offers nothing new to the table (except for maybe renewed sense of demotivation).
Worst of all, the essence of this book demonizes intellect, upholds mediocrity, and offers the layman an excuse to revert to a bastardized sort of mentality common in pre-Enlightenment Europe, where success was a foreign term and self-improvement was a term used only in the context of muscle-building.

This is a totally unusual, yet practical view at some of the aspects that lead to success. I had never thought of outliers from the perspective of the author. Very good read and I got my entire family hooked on it.

I really enjoyed reading this book - it is entertaining while delivering a well-woven study of the topic on the paths many examples have taken to becoming sucessful. Makes a person think of new ways to use some of the referenced opportunities to ones advantage (or at least recognize them where before it had not occured it was an opportunity).

This book makes you think about what it takes to be an "outlier". It isn't all brains and charisma. Very interesting book with many real world examples of success and a detailed breakdown of how it was achieved.

Gladwell writes about big ideas, in this case about previously unexamined determinants of success. He gets his ideas across, despite their conceptual nature, because he is a very good storyteller. The stories in Outliers are vivid, unique and thought-provoking. What leaves me unsatisfied is that some of the stories don't really support the thesis. For instance, he tells of an airplane crash caused because the culture of the pilot and crew forbade assertive communication. While the story demonstrates how we are affected by our culture, it certainly has nothing to do with success. He brings the discussion back on the rails by revealing that airlines now do extensive training to overcome this. There's the rub. Much of what he is trying to say is that success is somewhat fatalistic. Yet, there are everyday stories about compensatory efforts, such as the airlines' programs he mentions. He does not talk of stories - typical of news features - about individuals overcoming the odds he claims unavoidably create destiny. His stories are interesting and he does tie them together to make you think. But, the whole is not strong enough to make you want to respond to his ultimate call to action -- "to build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success." What do you do about that, other than try to make education fair and accessible? And that challenge is nothing really new.

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, which is a look at the contributing factors to the success of certain people.

When I originally wrote this, I put "a look at what makes people successful," although after some thought I considered that to be a bit misleading. A lot of times we look for how-to's when it comes to success -- read this book, do these exercises, think like this...all of which, according to Gladwell at some level, is folly.

Rather, the author looks at environmental factors as things that help to create a fertile environment for success. The examples are fairly wide ranging - such as your birthday, the support of extracurricular activities at school, as well as socioeconomic factors.

It's a fairly easy read, taking me about three days to get from cover to cover. While the subject matter is pretty deep and engaging, it's not a hard read at all. If anything - it's a real page turner.

Two things left an impression on me after reading this book.

First - intelligence is a matter of being at a certain threshold, and once you cross that threshold, the incremental gains aren't as important as you might think. In other words, the difference between two people with IQs of 150 and 180 really isn't that significant, whereas the difference between people in the low 100s is more significant. Once you cross a certain threshold, you've got a pretty wide open future ahead of you.

Second - a lot of people's success is the result of luck as opposed to hard work. This of course, not to say that it's all one or the other, but that sometimes, as the saying goes, you're just in the right place at the right time.

This of course, is interesting to learn, but somewhat disheartening if you think that you may have been unfortunate to be born outside of the lucky window or into a situation that doesn't have some fortunate circumstances. Of course, one's definition of success can vary widely, so let that be a reminder as you read the book. But nevertheless, it does provide an interesting mirror in which to reflect on one's own life and the opportunities you may or may not have had. If nothing less, it's an encouragement to work towards the betterment of future generations of both your own descendants and those not of your blood line.

Regardless, Gladwell scores again with another fascinating look at life from a different angle, much as he did with both The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Definitely read Outliers, and maybe even buy it.

I enjoyed reading this book like I do other Gladwell works. But, this one is not at the same level at Blink or the Tipping Point. Gladwell has an anti-talent bias that is now creeping into his thinking and works. I agree with Gladwell that you do need to practice a lot to become to the best of the best in any field, but I disagree with him that it seems like if you work hard enough you can be anything you want to be.

Now, overall this is still an interesting book and I appreciate the thinker that is Gladwell. I appreciate that he challenges the status quo, and stimulates thinking. I hope he keeps it up for a long time.

Malcolm Gladwell of Blink fame has written an epidemiologic analysis of why certain people are more successful than others. It has less to do with IQ levels and more to do with one's heritage, culture, and time of birth. It is a fascinating book that explains why all top New York lawyers have the same resume, what the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common, and the hidden advantages of star athletes (from the book jacket). Some examples follow: Gladwell posits the "10,000 hour" rule--e.g. it takes 10,000 hours to be really good at anything whether it's playing the guitar, programming on a computer, playing video games, working math problems, or playing soccer. Above an IQ of 120, the 10k rule is more important than IQ; thus an a guitarist with an IQ of 160 plays no better than a guitarist with an IQ of 120; it really depends on how much work and effort one applies himself. This is true with Bill Gates and his hanging out at the computer lab at 13, the Beatles playing in Hamburg, Germany, at 14 years of age, before their meteoric rise in Liverpool, England and America, or Warren Buffett studying the stock market at an early age, all easily putting in at least 10k hours of work (about five years of working full-time on one project only).

In "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell presents the case that success is due, in large part, to hard work and small, cumulative advantages. For example, it typically takes 10,000 hours of applied effort for anyone to become an expert in any field of endeavor. Gladwell presents some interesting statistics and many anecdotal examples of how talent and luck play a role in success. But without hard work, talent and luck are insufficient for success. He also describes examples of how common systems of recognizing, developing or rewarding talent have inherent biases that often fail to advance true talent.

The "rags to riches" storyline is popular in American culture; it reflects our belief that, through hard work, anyone can lift themselves from their current circumstances into better circumstances. Horatio Alger, Jr. popularized such stories in the 19th century. Modern popular culture sees exceptionally gifted or successful people and often attributes their success to inherent talent or simply luck as if they are outliers, i.e. not normal.

Gladwell asserts that hard work and persistence, which create small, cumulative advantages, are the primary factors leading to success. "Outliers" is an easy and engaging casual read that reinforces the American belief that anyone can achieve most anything if they're willing to work hard enough for it. Success is when preparation meets opportunity. Gladwell got this one right.

The intro to this book and some previous reviews led me to believe that a consistent "it" or "wow" factor would be revealed. Through each of the stories about remarkable people and their acquisition of skill, personal achievement and cultural background a common thread was not delivered. Each of the individuals the author designated as an "outlier" had a different story. While each of the stories regarding these talented individuals amounted to interesting reading, I found that a common or consistent message was not delivered. Also what are the ingredients or steps to take that an individual can follow to start on the path to become an "outlier".

This fascinating book defies description. It is sobering, inspirational, elucidating and challenging, all at the same time. Gladwell weaves rich character portraits into numerous "Stories of Success," providing insights on how opportunities and legacies created "Outliers" - individuals who somehow (and the author does an exceptional job of showing HOW) managed to distance themselves from their contemporaries. His examples are dizzyingly diverse, from the Beatles in Hamburg playing 8 hours a night, 7 days a week (The 10,000 Hour Rule) and geniuses (being smart enough can be better than being the smartest) to Southern feuding families (die like a man) and Korean airline pilots vs. New York traffic controllers.

Weaving these diverse stories into meaningful arguments through focused biographies including Bill Gates, Robert Oppenheimer and Joe Flom (the last living "named" partner of a large NYC law firm, whose success is closely related to his ethnicity, demographics and the garment industry), Gladwell shows that Outliers are actually not what they appear, but are individuals who were able to take advantage of the situation before them to forge their unique identities.

Satisfying work, says Gladwell, is composed of three key themes - autonomy, complexity and a clear connection between effort and reward - themes that are often missing in the workday world of many individuals. As he is closing this remarkable book, he makes what I feel to be his central point: "To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success - the fortunate birth dates and happy accidents of history - with a society that provides opportunities for all."

Gladwell punctuates this by telling a story of his own family and his extraordinary grandmother, Daisy Nation, in the chapter titled "A Jamaican Story." I won't spoil it for you. Read it for yourself.

To quote the author one last time, "It is impossible for a hockey player, or Bill Gates, or Robert Oppenheimer, or any other outlier for that matter, to look down from their lofty perch and say with truthfulness, `I did this, all by myself.'"

Malcolm Gladwell, a writer for the New Yorker (wonderful articles on NFL concussions and NYC rubber rooms in 2009), released this book in the fall of 2008. It spent a few months on the non-fiction best seller list. Gladwell explains that stories of success are usually much more complicated than people (or the media) often make them appear. He writes that the American arch-type of the self-made man is really a myth, and that a great deal of success is often the result of a mixture of time, parents, practice, opportunity and chance.

(1) A brilliant point that he offers is that 14 of the 75 richest people in world history (translated into 2008 dollars) were Americans born in the 1830's. He cites that they had to be young enough to avoid the pre-civil War mind-set but old enough to take advantage of the opportunities that Wall Street, the railroads and industrial manufacturing provided between 1865 and 1880. This was one of his several examples about the importance of being born at the right time.

(2) Gladwell explained how most of the European immigrants who ended up in NYC in the late 1800's and early 1900's did not have a skill or trade. The Jews that came from Eastern Europe usually had some experience with clothing; as a result, NYC was the world center of garment making during the first half of the 20th century, and the new businesses that sprung up and flourished were almost entirely owned and run by Jews. The children of garment workers (and owners) learned the importance of persuasion, hustle, shrewdness and long hours. Many garment workers' children became professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.

(3) He forwards the "10,000" rule in chapter 2 and cites that the Beatles were on stage for about 10,000 hours in Hamburg, Germany, and that experience transformed them into a band that could play lots of songs in a variety of different styles. Bill Gates also had 10,000 hours of practice on a computer in the late 60's, and Mozart wrote music for about 10,000 hours before he started turning out his greatest work.

(4) The Beatles were given the opportunity to play in Hamburg because of the relationship that a booking agent from Liverpool had with some Germans. Gates had access to a computer because of where he grew up (going to a rich school that was close to the University of Washington) and who he knew (a friend's parents got them 24 hour access to computers around Seattle). Chris Langan, an American with an IQ of 195, never had many opportunities, and so his brain was largely squandered (which Gladwell details in his chapter "The Trouble with Geniuses, Part I").

(5) There is a huge amount of luck that runs through all of these pieces. Working at something for 10,000 hours is individually driven, but timing, parents and opportunity has nothing to do with being self-made.

Gladwell writes in the same style as ESPN's Bill Simmons (whose latest book he wrote the intro for). He is easy to follow, he is funny and he uses a great deal of footnotes. The great flaw in Gladwell's work is that while his arguments and connections are interesting and make sense, they are not driven by research or that much hard data. He relies on anecdotal stories and hammering his points repeatedly. He rarely provides an opposing view to his points.

I very much enjoyed this book. The subject matter is close to my heart - as it is for most people... What does it take to succeed? I like seeing science and math explain different subjects; in this case, the author does a great job of using math to explain the factors related to success and failure. It's gratifying to see that a large portion of success is due to hours of practice.

Certainly, genetics and talent are important components of success, but the book gives examples of how thousands of hours of practice are often required to truly succeed. Or that birth-month is important - especially for early success for children - that develops into later success. Interesting.

There is good reason that this book is a "classic."

This was the first book I bought for my Kindle. Reading the reviews, I was skeptical of the book initially - as I don't buy into the concept of "secret to success" as one fitting formula for the general masses. But this book was different. Malcolm Gladwell took his well-researched case studies and dissected the results and the processes to present a balanced look at some of the best known successful people of our times. It was comforting to have his research confirm that success goes to people who really do work at it - although being at the right place, at the right time, and born to the right environment all help. Just as I finished the book, I was speaking to one of my colleagues, as he described the trials and tribulations of raising a star hockey player in his family. I asked him about his son's birthdate (March), and the practice times and opportunities that his son has had. It was all there. The making of a successful hockey player in Canada following the path that many NHL players before him. I recommended the book to my friend, and he was immediately fascinated. This is one book that I want in my library, as a keeper - as opposed to ones that I wish I could give back.

A new favorite- Mr. Gladwell shares some very personal information about himself and his family, along with a compelling set of stories and data to show that outliers (the extraordinarily successful) are often largely due to the accumulated good will and fortune of others.

Whereas intelligence is of paramount importance in order to succeed, practical intelligence is far more relevant in real life.

I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's books because of his gift of storytelling. They are interesting and thought provoking, but a little shy on what to do with what you are learning.

His premise in this book I think is an important one in our celebrity worshipping culture - stars don't make it alone, they are frequently in the right place at the right time, although they do work very hard.

So for anyone that is patting themselves on the back just a little too much, remember how you got there...

This book explains the real story behind different people in the world who are viewed as successul and what factors in their lives enabled them to accomplish what they have accomplished. The most brilliant gem of wisdom I drew from this book was the 10,000 hours of preparation factor combined with the right opportunity. I have found this book to be most insightful and inspiring. I would like more examples of acclaimed women, however.

While I have no intention of deeply and thoroughly dismantling Gladwell's argument, I will merely note that this book, as well as his others, is flawed and flimsy, laking rigor and originality. His assumptions are not well founded, his extrapolations not well-defended --- this is the kind of work that would be shredded if presented as an undergraduate thesis at some undistinguished institution in some jerk-water corner of the country. He is writer of mediocre talent, who, when compared to his cohorts at New Yorker --- Adam Glopnik, et. al. --- causes any reader of intelligence to consider just what kind of goods does he have on the editors of that esteemed magazine. He is the non-fiction world's John Grishom whose work will appeal to those who want to appear au courant and hip, the kind of person who wants to impress his computer date over a plate of risotto.

Mr. Gladwell is a master story teller, blending humor and a rigorous scientific approach that is as informative as it is entertaining. It was a fairly quick read for me since both his style and the anticipation of "What else connects together" keeps you wanting to know what's in the next chapter. His topic was so interestng I've continued reading other books on similar topics. It's an eye opening book and a great read.

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read. From begining to end I found Malcolm Gladwell's writing fascinating and inspiring. I would recommend this and pretty much all his other books as terrific reads.

This book has interesting findings and the author does a great job in turning all the data into readable, entertaining stories.