Outliers by Malcolm GladwellMy review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Our book club chose OUTLIERS this month, and I enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's latest effort. I have read both of his previous books, THE TIPPING POINT and BLINK, though I still think THE TIPPING POINT is his best and he's been coasting a bit with lighter stuff ever since.
OUTLIERS has a simple premise: people who have achieved great success have not actually done it alone, they were helped along the way by having a variety of opportunities created by timing, culture, and the actions and support of the people around them. Well.... that premise is so simple it almost makes you want to say "Duh."
But Gladwell's talent has always been to find compelling examples to support his thesis, and to tell those stories in a page-turning way. That's where his background as a journalist really shines, even if it may sometimes seem has if he's just cherry-picked a few good examples that strengthen his argument and leaves the hard research to others. His books are very readable, but not necessarily heavy on the first-hand research.
Anyway, in OUTLIERS he uses the examples of Bill Gates and the Beatles among others to demonstrate how circumstances have just as much of an effect on some one's success as hard work and innate talent, though he stresses they are all equally important. He tells the chilling stories of Korean Air Lines' disastrous crash record to demonstrate how culture, and the way it dictates communication in a hierarchy, impacts a company's success. (And that whole section made the prospect of flying scary all over again.) He also uses two different tales of immigration - European Jews in the garment industry in NYC and Scotch-Irish in Appalachia - to explain how cultural tendencies are handed down among generations and led to current behaviors in surprising ways.
Overall, OUTLIERS is fun and filled with interesting cocktail-chatter-style new information. Sure, it's light and probably won't stick with me for long, but I'm glad I'm continuing on with Gladwell's career, as he follows along a path he describes very lovingly in the epilogue as set in motion by his own ancestors not so long ago.
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3 comments:
Thanks for this review, Stef. I haven't read OUTLIERS but saw Malcolm Gladwell speak about it at the 92nd Street Y in January. He was interesting... though, frankly, didn't really answer any of the harder questions the moderator was asking. He simply would sit there and not respond and just move onto the next thing. That was kind of disappointing, especially as lately there's a lot of backlash against him and I was kind of looking forward to some response to it (if you check out aldaily.com there are lots of interesting responses to him). Anyway, between his talk and your review I'll probably pick this one up on my next trip t the library.
Thanks, Kara. Gladwell's one of the keynote speakers at AAM in Philly this spring, so I'm looking forward to seeing him. He is still one of my all-time favorite "This American Life" segments, when he told the story of how he got his start in journalism. It was hilarious! Though it still fits with the idea that he might be more of an opportunist than a serious academic/researcher. He doesn't really present himself as too serious, but I can imagine the backlash focusing on him being rather lightweight.
can I borrow your copy?
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