Outliers: The Story of Success

Interesting and thought-provoking read, as all of Gladwell's books have been so far.

Unfortunately, the thoughts they have come to provoke are wondering how provable his theses are and how I would go about fact-checking them. There's a fine balance between too much proof, causing tedium, and not enough, causing disbelief. What he says about success rings true - but is it?

What is one supposed to do with this book? It was the literary equivalent of cotton candy - full to the brim with sweetness but with a very faint aftertaste, and you begin to wonder if it was even worth it. But then again, it was interesting in the moment, right?
Outliers is also spectacularly optimistic (‘successful' people become that way because of luck and destiny, and not only because they are geniuses! The traditional notion of modern genius is antiquated. It probably needs to be quashed altogether) or pessimistic (if it's going to take so much luck and embracing your cultural heritage and being born in January for success, then I might as well not bother), depending on how you look at it. Plus, the fact that the author's claims that not having summer vacation is good for learning outcomes for poor students just annoyed me because apparently - good teachers and learning paradigms are not good enough? And some ‘sacrifice' is expected?
Here, you always get the feeling the author is working backwards - starting from wanting to quash the notion of outliers, and cherrypicking his way into feel-good neoliberal ‘meritocratic' discussions, without offering or even hinting at a structural change. I also didn't feel the topic was deep enough to warrant a book written on it. Magazine article in the Economist? Sure. But a 300-page book? Not the best idea.

For years I've heard mentions of this book. I can see why! One of the most often quoted parts of this book is the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become highly proficient in anything - from a musical instrument to programming, to writing. Gladwell explains this not from a hypothetical standpoint, but by talking with experts and looking back on how they got there.

These experts share one other trait - they were fortunate to have the opportunity to devote 10,000 hours to their craft. I loved the stories in this one about how different experts (outliers) in their fields achieved greatness. For each, there is a bit of luck in having the chance, but also the immense effort needed. There is something to be said for being in the right place at the right time and having the right opportunity – then working your ass off capitalize on the chance.

Gladwell simultaneously argues that Bill Gates is successful due mostly to luck and that it's a good thing a Latina girl from the Bronx pulls 15 hour school days to battle economic inequality.

Some interesting arguments here but overall all I can really get from this thing is that life is fucked, luck is the number one ingredient for success, and the number two ingredient is an inhuman amount of work.

BLUF: This isn't a self-help book, it's an OpEd/Pop Science piece.

“Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities ...”

Plot: Outliers follows the premise that people only became successful because of the opportunities provided in their life. This includes anything from the time of the year or era they were born to family background to the lucky breaks. While there is a controllable factor in success (practice), Gladwell argues that it must be coupled with other factors in order for success to occur.

My thoughts: After reading this, I'm not really sure why my father recommended this to me to read. I feel like the success of books like Freakonomics has us (my father and I included) excited for any book that explains social science in a readable and entertaining manner. Many readers (ahem.. me) take this information at face value and fail to realize any skews or dissents as they are not discussed. My point: take this with a grain of salt.

While this book's emphasis is on successful people being formed by group effort, I think it's unfortunate in the sense that it causes readers to say “Ahh, THIS is why I must not be successful.” Why try to be successful if success is based on factors outside of your control? It's a demotivator and a concept that can be used to justify one's lack of effort.

Concepts Discussed: Opining aside, Outliers presents an interesting argument about success. Malcolm Gladwell offers some ideas that seem pretty self explanatory: high general intelligence doesn't take you far if you don't have practical intelligence, practice in a trade or skill is necessary for mastery, and culture plays a major part in who we are and how we behave. Other ideas you may be hearing for the first time: how you were raised, arbitrary cutoff dates (schools, sports, etc.), and “what your parents do for a living, and the assumptions that accompany the class your parents belong to” matter.

Summary of Examples: Gladwell discussions include Bill Joy, Bill Gates, The Beatles, Steve Jobs, Chris Langan, Lewis Terman, Oppenheimer, Joe Flow, Alexander Bickle, Maurice and Mort Janklow, Regina and Louis Borgenict, the Howards and Turners, Gert Hofstede, Alan Schoenfield, and himself. Arguments are detailed with the use of sports and school advantages, Jewish immigrants, cultural legacies, rice farmers, and the KIPP Academy along with brief life bios for some of the individuals listed above.

Oh, BTW: When asked, “What do you want people to take away from Outliers?” Gladwell answered “My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is”.

Interesting read, Gladwell makes it clear to us something we may not want to admit, pure hard work or even pure talent does not guarantee our success. We must work hard and we must upskill ourselves, but importantly we must also identify where good opportunities lie. Gladwells message might appear to some as a statement that only those blessed with good opportunities can be outliers in success, but I see it differently. It may be wishful thinking but I hope there is some outlier position in each of our lives we can identify and exploit to truly achieve greatness :)

As a person who likes to analyze and dissect statistical patterns and anomalies, I found this book to be right up my alley. Don't be scared away, though, because Outliers is not a “numbers” book; rather, Gladwell points out some fascinating correlations and explanations that are worth your while to read and ponder.

“Everything we have learned in Outliers says that success follows a predictable course. It is not the brightest who succeed. [...] Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities - and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them. For hockey and soccer players born in January, it's a better shot at making the all-star team. For the Beatles, it was Hamburg. For Bill Gates, the lucky break was being born at the right time and getting the gift of a computer terminal in junior high.” (Gladwell, 2008, 267).

I particularly enjoyed the chapters that focused on hard work (10,000 hours is the magic number), Asian cultures that play a negative factor in a number of fatal airplane crashes while also excelling in mathematics, the idea of being “good” vs. “best”, and the ill-effects of summer vacation.

Less interesting to me were the chapters about the rise of Joe Flom and the people of Harlan, Kentucky - though Gladwell makes valid points, so these are not wasted pages or words.

Definitely one of the better non-fiction (non-biographical) books I have read.

For years I've heard mentions of this book. I can see why! One of the most often quoted parts of this book is the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become highly proficient in anything - from a musical instrument to programming, to writing. Gladwell explains this not from a hypothetical standpoint, but by talking with experts and looking back on how they got there.

These experts share one other trait - they were fortunate to have the opportunity to devote 10,000 hours to their craft. I loved the stories in this one about how different experts (outliers) in their fields achieved greatness. For each, there is a bit of luck in having the chance, but also the immense effort needed. There is something to be said for being in the right place at the right time and having the right opportunity – then working your ass off capitalize on the chance.

This book offers a fascinating perspective as to how “outliers” became the exceptions to the rule. The points he brings up are ones that I have never really contemplated and overall found this book to be such an interesting read. I liked that Gladwell provided plenty of statistical data to support this propositions as well as numerous interesting anecdotes digging into the personal lives of the examples he uses. I have a few people in mind who I'm going to recommend this book to already!

This is a very interesting book. Now almost ten years old the overall argument of the book seems somewhat questionable. It did make me look at how we view success in a different way to how I previously had and in this respect Malcolm Gladwell's aim when writing this piece has been fulfilled by his readership. However I found the overall argument very simplistic and the style of the book read more like an undergraduate dissertation piece than a convincing psychological document. Don't get me wrong it was very easy to read. Very easy to understand and a fascinating way to turn previous assumptions about success on their heads. If you want to feel engaged in psychology without being overwhelmed by complex academic texts then this book is for you. However while I have become interested in both Malcolm Gladwell and his works as a result of this read. I fail to be convinced of his argument and so for me this novel sits at 3.5/ 3.8 read for me.

Gladwell loves a good story based on some semblance of the connectedness of the world. And he's such a good storyteller that the reader can't help being carried along with his ideas. I read and loved Blink. I read and loved The Tipping Point. Now I've read and loved Outliers. But are any of these valid if they are studied carefully and scientifically, rather than anecdotally?

Outliers seems grounded in basic American common sense: People are successful when they work hard. (And, it helps, when circumstances are fortuitous for their success, he adds.) I'm still thinking, hard, about the last chapter, which concludes with a study done on students' reading and math acquisition over the summer months and during the school year. The study splits up children according to their SES: low, medium, and high. Here's the startling conclusion: low and middle SES kids learn MORE during the school year than high SES kids. Odd. And, further, in the summer, low SES kids learn little or even lose ground while high SES kids make tremendous gains.

Gladwell certainly knows how to tell a good tale.

This book was really fascinating and some parts were close to mind blowing but in the end I feel like it just reiterated the obvious fact that if you want to be successful you have to work hard. Still, I feel that I've learned a lot and definitely have gained a comprehensive knowledge of how success works. My favorite bit of the book was the “10,000 hour rule” chapter because I am currently studying Japanese and it's motivating to know that if I just keep studying and working hard for 10,000 hours, I could become an expert. Thanks Malcolm Gladwell! :D

P.S. The chapter on plane crashes COMPLETELY reminded me of Cabin Pressure