#86, "Outliers"

"Outliers"
By Malcolm Gladwell

I have wanted to read this book for a few years now, though I'm not sure where I first heard of it. "Outliers" is about the concept of success; why some people find success and others do not, its accompanied complexities, and the hidden and sometimes surprising factors that influence a person's success. He looks at several groups in order to unpack and examine what contributes to success; Canadian hockey players, Korean pilots, Silicon valley executives, 1830's millionaires. His primary point is that success is based on factors out of our control as much, or more, than factors within our power. The place, the year, even the month we were born, the social class of our fathers, the power distribution of our cultures, all things that we have no influence over, have real and lasting impact on the paths our lives take. Success is a mixture of predetermined conditions, innate talent (though this is less important that we are often led to believe), hard--like, crazy insane hard--work, and opportunity. No one just falls into success. Gladwell's perspectives are fresh and insightful and are written in a great style that encourages one to continue reading. I really enjoyed the unusual settings of his examples, and even more how he tied each unusual example back into the larger picture. A masterful book on a subject I think most of us are interested to know more about.