Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read the Kindle edition. It was interesting and gave me a new perspective on why/how certain people achieve so much – are called geniuses or become ‘superstars’ in their field. (One of the main criteria that lead a person to become an outlier is the month or year of their birth.) However, once the author states all these criteria, and backs his theory up with tons of data, he basically stops. I was waiting to see how this could be put into action – specifically in our education system or for me, personally. He does touch on the education aspect a bit, but frankly, after I read it, I was left with the idea that besides working/practicing our craft for 10,000 hours, we had very little control over becoming an outlier. You have to be born in the right month, the right year, have the right ancestry, and be in the right geographical location at the right time. Maybe I am supposed to draw my own conclusions on how to put this information to work, I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t born in the right month to be able to figure it out.
