Outliers

The Story of Success

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia, learn what sets high achievers apart—from Bill Gates to the Beatles—in this seminal work from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review).

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. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

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. 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.

Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Critic reviews

"In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today...Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward."—David Leonhardt, New York Times Book Review

"The explosively entertaining Outliers might be Gladwell's best and most useful work yet...There are both brilliant yarns and life lessons here: Outliers is riveting science, self-help, and entertainment, all in one book."—Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly

"No other book I read this year combines such a distinctive prose style with truly thought-provoking content. Gladwell writes with a high degree of dazzle but at the same time remains as clear and direct as even Strunk or White could hope for."—Atlanta Journal Constitution

Great listen

A great listen. It takes you on a journey of understanding into the stories behind how many well known people succeeded. Very interesting and sure to provide some enlightening conversations about the stories. Covers things from air crashes to ice hockey and maths in between. Highly recommend.

Outliers

Outliers gets you thinking about many of the conclusions we have come to by listening to either the media or just heresay over the generations. This book provided me with new information, presented in an entertaing manner, about research that has been presented that challenges our previous assumptions. Our thinking regarding being successful just by hard work and perserverance is thrown out the window. The book discusses cultural, situational, timing of one's birth, ancestor's occupation, IQ, and being at the right place and the right time as influencing factors in a person's success.
It gives us food for thought about many other myths that we could either research on our own or encourage others to research. One of the areas I would like to explore is regarding successful women. This book touched briefly about the cultural background of the author's mother and how she became successful.
Overall this book was very enlightening and entertaining.

Outstanding!

Outliers is a game-changing book based on the premise that opportunity and reward factor into success just as much as (actually more than) hard work and raw IQ. Gladwell's examples span the sports, technological, and musical worlds to name a few, and the story goes quickly because of his anecdotes. You'll find yourself sharing these stories, unable to stop yourself from relaying example after example. Hearing the words directly from Gladwell's mouth is a special treat.

Classic Book

Even after reading this book a second time years later, the content is still original and entertaining. We often think that outliers (those special, exceptional people) are disciplined, self-made successful people. That is not the case. It is the environment, support system, and other factors that can make an ordinary person into an extraordinary person. I recommend skipping chapters 6 and 7 about family feuds in the Appalachian and South Korean airplane crashes and coming back to at the end. Those chapters demonstrate how culture can be a detriment to a person's success.

Great listen

This book was a great listen with interesting stories interwoven with facts and all at a great pace. This book really got me thinking about the interconnectivity of the timing of events in my own life, in my family's, and in my culture.