Cover of Outliers

Outliers

The Story of Success

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Outliers

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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Summary
 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. Anthropology Career Success Communication & Social Skills Personal Development Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions
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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
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In this book, Malcolm does a study of many of the highly successful people we know to prove that it is not mostly what they were born with, that is having a higher IQ or having a special talent who got them where they got. They had to put a huge amount of work, they took advantage of their environment, the period where they were born, gifts from their past generations and more. The example of Bill Gates show it clearly that he was advantaged not only because he was born in a blessed period to get mature during the IT boom, but also, having access to an outfitted computer in 1968 when he was 13, during that same period, computers were so expensive that even professors in computer science barely had access to them, and programming was so complex, by the time he showed up at the Silicon Valley, he had more than 10 000 hours of programming in his fingers. Nearly all of us, if given same opportunities with the outliers, we will surely write the same stories, if not better.
The Asians do not have higher IQ than the rest of us, the just have more school time and work harder than the others, this is why the will outperform the rest of the world in maths and other scientific complex subjects. The example of the KIPP schools brought to the USA is a demonstration that working harder and for longer period can yield impressive results.

Those who appear to be extraordinary are ordinary people

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clear and easy to listen to while you are walking. enjoy his narration of success. insightful but not pretentious usual American bestseller. I think gladwell has improved a lot from Blink

clear and easy to listen

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This book gives a very interesting point of views about success by analyzing the stories behind successful people, schools, companies and even societies. It shows that success derives from a combination of many factors including the time, family, race, tradition, etc. Having a high IQ is just not enough to guarantee a successful career. You also have to be born in a right time at a right place in a right family, to be given a chance at a right moment... but maybe the most important message is that all outliers put a lot of time and effort into what they do. There is no exception, no shortcut for success.

Fascinating book about success

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It's an interesting book with a wide reach of examples of genius of all kinds and a deep look into what are the drivers of success, which surprisingly are not things beyond reach. Encouraging and educative.

Very inspiring and educative

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I loved the book. There was a lot to learn from every chapter. 👌

Simply the best

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