In this stunning new audiobook, 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.
Summary
Outliers
Narrarated by: Malcolm Gladwell
eMusic Review 0
12.22.09
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
2009 | Label: Little, Brown
Gladwell tells us why we’re good at what we’re good and bad at, and why
This is the book where Malcolm Gladwell tells me I’ll never be a professional hockey player, and then explains how it’s not my fault.
See, I was born in May; and an absurd percentage of successful hockey players were born in January, February and March. So astrology is real?! Nah. It simply has to do with kids being grouped by age via arbitrary cut-off dates, and coaches mistaking maturity for excellence. And away we go with Outliers, a frequently astounding (and occasionally discouraging) thinkmaze on the subject of being special.
As Gladwell puts it: “There is something profoundly wrong with the way we make sense of success.” Computer pioneers, classical composers, the Beatles and everybody else who ever accomplished anything gets taken to task. Maybe they weren’t geniuses, just people who lucked into exactly the right set of circumstances (born here, taught this, exposed to that) — and were willing to log the 10,000 hours of practice needed to put them over the top. Desire and dedication are factors, of course, but by the end of Outliers you’ll be wondering whether innate talent is even real. As per the Gladwell brand, there are a thousand anecdotes for parties and dates in this book, but don’t ignore the precious bonus content: excuses.
