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Book: Outliers

10.Jul.2009

And the last book of my reading spree was Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve read Gladwell’s previous book Blink, which with this talk (mentioned in Rethinking Education), made me interested in reading the new book. Outliers talks about unique people, those who distinguish themselves and become successful and influence many others. It tries to explain what they have in common and what makes them special.

Comparing with the book Tribes by Seth Godin I reviewed last month, this author takes a very different approach. While Seth Godin prefers to deliver straight conclusions backed up by simple arguments, Gladwell dives much deeper into each topic, setting up an environment to deliver all of the details and results. Since they work on different topics and targets, both strategies seem to work well, but I can help to notice the contrast between the two.

In Outliers tells the background stories, more than the successful life, of those called outliers. People such as Bill Gates or the Beatles. How their success seems to be made of a huge number of work hours and being at the right place at the right time. An inspirational book desmistifying some common thoughts about talent and how an environment can shape a person’s life.