outliers the story of success by malcolm gladwell

Another pitfall is the urge to state the obvious: “No one,” Gladwell concludes in a chapter comparing a high-IQ failure named Chris Langan with the brilliantly successful J.

In seeking to understand why Asian children score higher on math tests, Gladwell explores the persistence and painstaking labor required to cultivate rice as it has been done in East Asia for thousands of years though fascinating in its details, the study does not prove that a rice-growing heritage explains math prowess, as Gladwell asserts. Even as we know how many of these stories end, Gladwell restores the suspense and serendipity to these narratives that make them fresh and surprising. Through case studies ranging from Canadian junior hockey champions to the robber barons of the Gilded Age, from Asian math whizzes to software entrepreneurs to the rise of his own family in Jamaica, Gladwell tears down the myth of individual merit to explore how culture, circumstance, timing, birth and luck account for success-and how historical legacies can hold others back despite ample individual gifts. A detailed investigation of the unique culture and skills of Eastern European Jewish immigrants persuasively explains their rise in 20th-century New York, first in the garment trade and then in the legal profession. We learn what Bill Gates, the Beatles and Mozart had in common: along with talent and ambition, each enjoyed an unusual opportunity to intensively cultivate a skill that allowed them to rise above their peers. Outliersīegins with a provocative look at why certain five-year-old boys enjoy an advantage in ice hockey, and how these advantages accumulate over time.

His gift for spotting an intriguing mystery, luring the reader in, then gradually revealing his lessons in lucid prose, is on vivid display. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.īrilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered-the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena. His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing.

He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of 'outliers'-the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. Explore what sets high achievers apart-f rom Bill Gates to the Beatles- in this seminal work from 'a singular talent' ( New York Times Book Review) Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Blink and The Bomber Mafia and host of the podcast Revisionist History

Outliers the story of success by malcolm gladwell