Product ReviewsOutliers : The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (2008, Hardcover)

See the road to success from a whole new angle!

Extensive research went in to telling the stories of successful people and dispels the myth that you have to be born to the right family or have an expensive education to be successful. It was intriguing to learn why the Beatles became the phenomenal band they were, and what started Bill Gates on the path that led to his success. What year, or what time of the year you're born can have a dramatic impact on your potential for success. A fascinating book that weaves various individual stories in a way that makes you want to read more. I was sorry to reach the last page.Read full review...

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Needs more about female success stories

A very interesting and debatable topic! I personally would feel defeated if I thought the only way to achieve success was through luck and your birthday! Hard work along with natural ability should be most important which is why people should be encouraged to follow their instincts after being introduced to all possibilities. If one path doesn't work out, people should be encouraged to try another until they find where they belong. Life is not always easy.............Read full review...

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Quick and easy read, recommend!

The book Outliers was a book written by Malcom Gladwell. This book is aimed for college age students or young adults. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book for many reasons and it is a very quick and easy read. This book kept me intrigued through out the entire story. This book gets you thinking about your own life and how you could be as successful as the people he portrays in this book. Malcom Gladwell’s writing style is unique. Not only does he put his opinion in this book but he also gathers tons and tons of research evidence that helps support what he is saying. Each chapter in this book talks about a different person, sport, or experience that people had to go through to get where they are today. He explains how the greatest people in this life didn’t get where they are today by themselves. With hard work, dedication, and a few caring people, they got to be where they are today. One of the examples that stuck out the most to me was when he talked about many famous people and related it back using research to see where they are today. The conclusions of this was that all of them had 10,000 hours or more of practice to be as talented as they are now. This goes for hockey players, piano players, singers, etc. Malcom Gladwell gives many examples through out the story of how people are considered outliers. He defines outliers being someone/something that does something that is out of the ordinary. Overall great book and I would recommend it if you are looking for a quick and easy read.Read full review...

Success by Choice, Luck, or Opportunity?

Take a moment and think about what success means to you and how it plays a role in your life. What is success, really? Just a word with a simple definition like most others or is there a deeper meaning with a defined hidden message? Outliers by Maxwell Gladwell is a good book in the fact that there is not just one story or situation, yet multiple to give examples and back his theory of what an outlier is and how one is determined. Throughout the book Gladwell discusses certain situations in which deem you an outlier. Talent and individual merit are within the opportunity to work hard. Some situations, or popular notions of success that would determine you as an outlier, although giving you no way in controlling the fact would be hidden advantages, and cultural legacy. Students, faculty and even members around the community could easily identify with at least one if not more of the situations that are discussed within the book. For students it may be hockey or the overall underlying purpose to the story that hard work and success go hand in hand in that with determination great success will follow. As for members in the community it could be more of a general idea, which is that of history. Some questions that still go unanswered are, “What if everyone were given the same opportunities? What if everyone had the same cultural legacies or the same hidden advantages?” If these questions were true for every person in the fact that each and every person were given the same opportunities and had the same talent, people would be given a chance at the same opportunity of success. But this is not true as you read throughout the book there are different thresholds that impacted each and every person or object that would give them a label of successful or not. Take a look back at your life and your parent’s life and ask yourself this question, “Are you an outlier?”

Overall I thought the book held lots of interesting stories that were backed up very well with the information and statistics that were provided. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in finding out how certain people and places became successful, what hidden advantages were in store for them as they grew up, and what opportunities were presented to them that were in their favor along the way.Read full review...

Gladwell does it again!

Outliers is a great book. A little less scientific then some other books on theory and success but well worth the read. Its easy to understand the concepts and the real world examples are excellent. The additional stories from "real" people make the reading very interesting. I highly recommend this book. Check out the authors other titles when you have a chance.Read full review...

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Who is to Prove: Talent or Opportunities?

I read Outliers as a class requirement about a month ago but even today I am having a hard time deciding if I agree or disagree with Malcolm Gladwell’s point of view towards success.

In the beginning when I started reading the book, I was completely stunned by his approach towards defining the term “Success” because I always thought of successful people as the ones with natural talent or hard work but even as I considered my own opinion, I couldn’t completely disagree with what I was reading. Especially the information (data tables/statistics/history) he provided to back up what he was saying definitely made an impact on me. Just think about it, the 10000 hour-rule, makes perfect sense because if someone was to practice same activity- singing, drawing, cooking, playing sports- they could be successful at it maybe even if they started out without any knowledge of the activity.

On the other hand while his 10000 hour-rule makes sense me, I had a hard time accepting that just because someone is born a little earlier than others, they have more chance of being successful. I know so many peers at school who are born later than “the usual” and still are excellent students. So the more I read the book, and read about more famous people that apparently were not talented but just “lucky” or just the ones with “more opportunities” I started getting a little annoyed. I felt like as the book progressed he started using repetition to get his point across. At some points it even seemed as if maybe he is against those who are successful.

I am not sure why but I don’t think I can completely accept or deny the book; it might either be the fact that it goes completely against what I believe in or maybe because deep inside I can see how the ones with more opportunities would be successful in life.Read full review...

A bold new idea, a fresh piece of perspective

Once again Mr. Gladwell does not disappoint. Like his prior publications, this book delves into one of life's larger questions. How do the incredibly successful people of this world get to their prominent status? In typical Gladwell fashion, we are taken on a journey to Canada, China, Korea, America. We comb through relevant Data. We explore case studies. All this to find out what is truly elevating people to the status they're at. This book does a good job of taking away the "deity" status many of us have given to the successful. Once outlier success has been brought back to earth, it opens the door to many more who thought it was out of reach.

He makes a powerful case for how society should reevaluate the way it perceives, finds, and fosters success. He challenges us to forget the old paradigms of the past and look to the future where more opportunities for success can be afforded to many more. He shows how small things can make a difference.

At the risk of sounding cliche'... This book is Zen like. As the pages unfold before you, you feel as though you already knew the truth, you just couldn't remember it yet.Read full review...

Brilliant! The Best of Mr. Gladwell's Books. You can't go wrong!

I've read all of Mr. Gladwell's books and if you're only going to read one, IMO, this is his most important, and at the risk of hyperbole, I'll call it brilliant. He argues, and supports with substantial evidence, the idea that sheer luck plays an enormous role in how our lives turn out. He stops short of taking the extreme deterministic position agreed upon by, oh, Einstein, Freud, and BF Skinner, to name a few of the 20th centuries most influential thinkers, but many readers will have their minds opened to consider that possibility more seriously.

The book is also the story of failure. I guess if that had been incorporated into the title it would have been less appealing. And although examples of failure due to bad luck are no doubt far more common than The Beatles or Steve Jobs, thus who experience failure, also because of (bad) luck, don't stick out to be studies and included.

If there's a weakness it's that examples that con't support his thesis are ignored. On the other hand. if his thesis is correct, and I think it is, there are no contradictory example.

Outliers is, IMO, a truly great book. I can't thin of a book I'd recommend more highly.Read full review...

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Intelligence Counts, But It's Not Everything

This book might appear obvious and even questionable to many people, but it contains several reminders and eye-openers that all of us often keep forgetting every day: true success and notoriety are for few - the environment, time and cultural heritage which one was born and raised are, putting them all together with hard work, persistence and a certain level of intelligence, decisive factors which set one individual or another apart from the others.

If one takes the time to think about the core message, it will certainly draw the conclusion that it all makes perfect sense. The world is full of intelligent, brilliant and hard working people and only if there were enough chances for each and everyone of them to show and develop the correct abilities at the right place, by the right time and to the right people, chances are that he/she might become an outlier on his/her field of expertise. The point is that nobody chooses whether or not to be an outlier, it just happens.

The author points meaningful considerations about the how the educational system and other purely cultural aspects may affect the ability of an individual or a group of them to develop hard work and constant practicing, which is absolutely relevant for creating the conditions for more and more people to be a potential "Outlier". And here is where the book starts to function as a provider of a powerful message, rather than a simple shortened biography of some outstanding people - you don't have to be an outlier, but you can be somebody which can make the whole difference.

Good book, entertaining and inspiring from start to finish.Read full review...

I am enjoying my book so far!

I got this book out on a limb because I wanted to read an interesting non-fiction psychology book but wasn't sure which one to choose. I did little research and came across "Outliers". I chose the book, hoping for the best but not knowing what to expect, and the best is what I received. Read full review...

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