Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
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Book Reviews of Outliers: The Story of Success
Book Review: Book Review on Outliers
Summary: 5 Stars
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell is a must read. This book focuses on many different stories of success along with the factors that helped individuals become successful. Most people believe success depends on the intelligence of these individuals; however, Gladwell makes a very strong argument that success depends more on other factors that surround the individuals. For example, success depends on the year they were born, the time of year they were born, opportunities that were presented to them, and even their family history. Gladwell also proposes a new rule for success: the 10,000 hour rule.
Malcolm Gladwell is a successful writer. According to his website, [...], "He is the author of four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference, (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), an Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) all of which were number one New York Times bestsellers. His latest book, What the Dog Saw (2009) is a compilation of stories published in The New Yorker" (Gladwell, 2010). Malcolm Gladwell has written many books on complex thoughts. After reviewing the titles of his other books it seems the trends in this book may have been revealed to him through his research.
One main idea Gladwell suggests in his book is the 10,000 Hour Rule. This rule states that in order for people to truly master their profession, they must complete 10,000 hours of practice. One example Gladwell uses to explain this rule is the story of one of the most famous rock bands, the Beatles. Before the Beatles became famous rock stars, they were invited to play at a club in Hamburg, Germany. Playing at the club involved doing eight hour shows, sometimes seven days a week. Within two years the Beatles were able to complete over 10,000 hours of practice together as a band. Without the amount of practice the Beatles had received at Hamburg, they would not have been as successful. Gladwell makes it a constant theme that in order for an individual to be successful, he or she needs to get at least 10,000 hours of practice. In order for people to get enough practice, there needs to be opportunities and outside help from others.
Gladwell starts his book with an example of successful Canadian hockey players all being born in the beginning months of the year. He uses this example to show that success can depend upon an individual's birth date. For this specific example, the cut-off date for hockey players in specific age groups is December 31; therefore, having a birthday in January would give players an advantage. At a young age, being 11 to 12 months older is a huge advantage. The players who are more physically matured would be picked to play on the hockey team over the younger players. Once being picked to play on the hockey team, these players have more time to practice, which means they will have a better chance to advance in the sport. It also means that these players will complete their 10,000 hours of practice before the younger kids who were not picked. Gladwell continues to explain that success in school and other sports depends on an individual's birthday when a cut-off date is involved. While reading this book, I could relate to this example. I played soccer growing up and in the league I played in the cut-off date was in September. My first year of travel soccer was very hard. Most of the other girls were older than me because my birthday was in August. I received very little playing time because I was smaller and became very discouraged.
Another factor that success is dependent upon is the year that an individual was born. In this book, Gladwell shows a list of the seventy-five richest people in human history. Following this list, Gladwell explains that about 20 percent of people on this list were born in the United States during the nineteenth century. Gladwell continues to explain that given the year these people were born, they were the perfect age to take advantage of the changes that America was going through during the industrial revolution. The year a person was born plays a significant role in determining if an individual will be a successful outlier.
Opportunities are a major part of becoming successful. Gladwell explains that people are not successful on their own, and they need to be given the opportunity to become successful outliers. An example Gladwell uses in his book is the story of Bill Joy. Bill Joy went to the University of Michigan, which happens to be one of the first universities to have a computer lab that used time-sharing. He was lucky enough to live in the North Campus where the Computer Center was located. Because he had access to a computer, Bill Joy was able to have 10,000 hours of practice before other student his age which helped him become one of the few expert programmers. Gladwell also gives the example of Bill Gates. When Bill Gates was in the eighth grade he had joined a computer club at school where he had access to a computer. During that time period, most colleges still did not have computer labs for students to have access to computers. Bill Gates had an amazing opportunity to use and master a computer at such a young age.
Another point Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers, is that success depends on a person's family. Qualities that are instilled in children by their parents often determine the amount of success that their children may achieve. These qualities include independence, problem solving, and social skills. Gladwell also explains that a child coming from a wealthy family has a better chance to be successful. My uncle is very wealthy and has spent a great deal of money helping his son pursue a career in hockey. From the time my cousin was little, he has had the opportunity to purchase the best training and the best equipment. Because his family could afford it, he was able to travel and play on some of the best teams in the country. Therefore, being introduced to the best hockey coaches he is now playing on one of the junior national teams, and will be going to Michigan State on a full scholarship for hockey.
Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success is a great book. This book gives insight to the reasons people achieve great success. Outliers explains the importance of practice and opportunities that are given to individuals in order to be successful. This book also explains that certain factors for success are uncontrollable by the individual including birth date and family financial status. Everybody should read Outliers: The Story of Success to be able to understand the factors involved for individuals to achieve success.
Book Review: THE HIDDEN ADVANTAGES BEHIND SUCCESS
Summary: 5 Stars
Is Malcolm Gladwell just stating the obvious when he says really successful people achieve their success through a series of advantages? He labels such people as "outliers," a use of the word not sanctioned by the English dictionary. He's not interested in run-of-the-mill kinds of success, but of really huge kinds of success, like Bill Gates or The Beatles. Let me begin by saying that I found this book fascinating, and made my way through its 285 pages rapidly, eager to see what was on the next page, in the next chapter. The book is full of new perspectives and ideas to savor over time.
Gladwell introduces us to the "10,000 hour rule," by which someone who can put in 10,000 hours at their craft, especially when there are barriers to others getting that many hours, gain a significant advantage. He discussed how Bill Gates, as a teen-ager, had access to real time (as opposed to punch cards) programming, and how the Beatles played clubs in Hamburg Germany where the music was non-stop and they played 8-hours stretches. Practice makes perfect.
He also visits Chris Langen, a 200 IQ genius who grew up in extreme poverty and never finished college. He tells us about a long-term study of high IQ people like Langen that showed they are not more successful than other people. According to the author's analysis, it DOES take a certain level of intelligence to make it in our society, but beyond a certain IQ (about 120), the advantage of greater intelligence disappears. IQ tests only test a kind of logical intelligence, but it seems there is also a kind of practical intelligence that comes from exposure to people, places and things. If you grow up in an environment of low stimulation, with few opportunities for interaction with people or visits to a variety of places, you will be lacking in the kind of intelligence needed for success. Poor Chris Langen. Gladwell compares him to Robert Oppenheimer, who was also a genius, but came from a wealthy home. Their stories could not be more different.
He also talks about the role of cultural legacy in success, and attributes various kinds of dysfunctional behavior to cultural inheritance. For instance, the famous feuds of mountain people (like the Hatfields and McCoys) are traceable to their ancestry in the hills of Scotland, where they had to be aggressive in protecting their sheep. Koreans make lousy airline pilots because their extreme adherence to respecting those of higher status keeps co-pilots and flight engineers from telling the captain when something is wrong and needs immediate correction.
These observations are all very interesting, but once I was finished with the book, I began to wonder if what we have here is an entertaining book full of ideas, but not a complete theory of success. I was especially interested in what the author says about Bill Gates, since my husband and I were also involved in the very early software business, and we knew many other people who had a classic "garage business" (or, since we live in Michigan, a "basement business"). Yes, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard because he knew the picture of the Altair on the cover of Popular Electronics in January 1975 meant the time was right for small computers to become more than a hobby. Gates wrote a version of the BASIC language for the Altair, working with his buddy, Paul Allen. They founded Microsoft and were for a number of years, a computer language company. Gates was smart enough to always license (rather than sell) his languages, and that made him lots of money that let him move on to the next wave of computers.
But Gates was not the only entrepreneur out there, nor was the Altair the only machine (but it was the first). My husband David Welsh wrote a word processor for the Radio Shack TRS-80 and we sold it all over the world through ads in computer magazines. At the peak of its popularity, the TRS-80 had so many entrepreneurial programmers that the premier TRS-80 magazine, 80 Micro, was a hundreds-of-pages fat thing, bulging with ads. There were magazines for the Apple, Commodore, and other microcomputers, all full of ads for programs written by eager, talented enthusiasts. But only Bill Gates and Steve Jobs survived and are today moguls of a huge industry. What happened to everyone else?
(David and I wrote a book about our experiences - "Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution." The real story of microcomputers involves lots of people who did not get rich. The book is available on Amazon.).
In my mind, Bill Gates succeeded because of many of the factors cited by Malcolm Gladwell, but also because he had what many of the rest of us lacked, and that was the vision to see that software could be a huge industry. He not only had the skill and talent as a programmer, but he also had business acumen. And by the way, while Gladwell makes a big thing out of successful people having the opportunity to go to college, Gates not only dropped out of college, but his parents supported him in that choice. Gates' father was an attorney who helped him with advice on how to deal with the companies that wanted to use his BASC in their computers. How many parents would have let their son drop out of college to pursue something as iffy as creating a language for a "toy" computer (pretty much what the IBM crowd thought of the Altair)?
Yes, Gates had lots of advantages, but he was able to see the future in a way that most of us couldn't. Did that arise from another of those hidden advantages? Maybe books he'd read about how new technologies develop? Maybe trips to museums that traced the history of technologies? Maybe his father shared his ideas and his help was why this young man was able to craft such good deals with the likes of Radio Shack, and later, with IBM?
I think Outliers is a five-star book because it makes you think, and it is entertaining enough so you keep reading. Reading it will not turn you into a success, but it will give you some ideas about how people like Bill Gates got to be Bill Gates. You can start looking at successful people in a new way, wondering where their advantages came from and how those advantages worked with their own passion and talent to get them to the top.
Book Review: This Book Could Fix American Education
Summary: 5 Stars
Rarely does a book require immediate action from the reader. "The Rights of Man" by Thomas Paine moved America's founder's to action. "The Communist Manifesto" moved Vladimir Lenin to enslave a nation--and allowed Stalin to enslave many more. "The Origin of Species" launched a crusade against tradition that grows in intensity with each subsequent generation. (Listverse has a list of the 10 most influential books of all time, admittedly subjective.)
I Can't Believe It's Not a Novel
Malcolm Gladwell might have penned the next book to change history. "Outliers: the story of success" (Little Brown, New York) takes the reader on a marvelous tale of men and women who toiled and strained to rise above their meager starts to become . . . great. There are world-class hockey players, software and computer billionaires, great lawyers, mathematicians. All of these "outliers" fall many standard-deviations from the top of their kind.
And like a great fairy tale writer, Gladwell deftly draws the reader deeply into his little secret: "All is not as it appears."
Was there foul play that made these people rich?
Did the hockey players' parents cheat?
Were these geniuses not as smart as they pretended to be?
Like the titillating headlines in supermarket tabloids, "Outliers" makes you turn the page to find out Bill Gates's dirty little secret of success and why certain hockey players were heads and shoulders above peers of the same age.
Masterful Plot Twists
As the story unfolds--and Gladwell's action and tension rise and fall like a Dean Koontz novel--you learn facts far from scandalous yet more intriguing, even, than an illicit affair between Queen Elizabeth and Elton John.
I'll leave the details to your reading of this fine book. But I'll tell you why this book will change the world if we let it. And why we should.
America's Shameful Education Results
Walter Williams once said that if he were the Grand Wizard of the KKK he could think of no better way to destroy blacks in America than to send them to our public schools. Just this past Saturday, Morton Kondracke on Fox News' "The Beltway Boys" said that education could be Obama's Achilles' Heel--it is so bad and the teachers' unions so corrupt and selfish. (Kondracke is the liberal.)
If you have children in public school today, unless it's one of the top 100 or so districts in the country, you probably realize that your children will leave high school far less educated than you did. Somehow we have to fix it.
Not so much recently, but a whole lot when my kids were tiny, I read reams on education reform. I drew many conclusions about the causes of our declining education--the unions, government meddling, bad homes, emphasis on entertainment over learning--but inventing a solution seemed out of reach.
The Solution to a Quagmire
Enter Gladwell. "Outliers" explains the most plausible and unmentionable (in liberal elite circles) cause and solution to American education problems since Carl Childers identified the problem with a broken roto-tiller in "Sling Blade": "I reckon it ain't got no gas, um hmm."
The model for fixing education quickly, inexpensively, and permanently is pretty straightforward. Except for the special interests. The young girl Gladwell models, Marita, has, like so many others in the book, made herself into an outlier. From single female head-of-household home with a single bedroom for the family and a minimally educate mother, Marita has become a math wizard in a special KIPP middle school in one of the worst neighborhoods in New York.
"Marita doesn't need a brand-new school with acrews of playing fields and gleaming facilities," writes Gladwell. "She doesn't need a laptop, a smaller class, a teacher with Ph.D., or a bigger apartment. She doesn't need a higher IQ or a mind as quick Chris Langan's. All those things would be nice, of course. But they miss the point. Marita just needed a chance. And loot at the chance she was given!"
That chance, according to Gladwell, was the opportunity to work as hard as a wet-rice farmer in rural South China.
Imagine how the NEA will attack Gladwell's recommendations: longer hours in school, fewer but more intense "specials," hours of homework every night, weekend classes, and no summer vacation. The New York Times has already panned the book, as Gladwell gores one of its favorite oxen. (h/t Yglesias) Yet Michiko kakutani, the reviewer, almost certainly did NOT read the book. If he did, he clearly has little interest in education--he doesn't mention the only prescriptive part of "Outliers!" That would be like reviewing the Bible and leaving out the part about God.
Yet his evidence is unmistakable. Summer break separates the rich kids from the poor kids. In his always-remarkable research, Gladwell proves that kids from the wrong side of the tracks learn more in school--even in supposedly crappy schools in the inner city--than the rich kids in prestigious districts. The problem is that they unlearn in the summers while the rich kids keep on learning. The kids start pretty close, but each new school year, the poor kids start further behind the rich kids. As Gladwell points out, "School works. The only problem with school, for the kids who aren't achieving, is that there isn't enough of it."
How To Make It Work
Before Christmas, buy and read "Outliers." For Christmas, buy a copy for one member of your local school board. I have already ordered a copy for a board member in my district.
This could be the most important book in a generation, but only if we are serious about fixing education in America. If not, at least you'll enjoy one of the best books I've read in a year.
Book Review: Magnificent and Very Important
Summary: 5 Stars
In my opinion, Gladwell has done a magnificent job with this book, and the ideas presented are enormously important for anyone interested in success in just about any field of endeavor.
His basic thesis is as follows:
1. Inborn ability matters relatively little in many fields. In some fields like science it matters more, but only in the sense that one needs a minimum threshold of ability (eg, IQ of at least 120); above that threshold, extra ability doesn't matter much. [In predominantly creative fields like the compositional arts (as opposed to "mere" artistic performance like playing music composed by someone else), I suspect that inborn creative ability matters a lot, but standard measures like IQ may not reflect that ability.]
2. In pretty much all fields, focused hard work is necessary to develop expertise, and generally about 10,000 hours need to be invested to reach the expert level. But being an expert isn't the same as achieving the standout success of an "outlier" (eg, Bill Gates, Will Smith, or Barack Obama).
3. Luck plays a large role in success. Bad luck can dramatically inhibit success, and good luck fosters success. Exceptionally good luck (eg, a long series of lucky circumstances) is needed to achieve success at the outlier level. Luck clearly interacts with the first two factors noted above -- inborn ability involves rolling the genetic dice, and having the opportunity to put in one's 10,000 hours also involves luck (eg, poor kids aren't likely to have access to computer centers, violin lessons, and professional coaches). Being immersed in a culture which fosters success in a particular field is also a matter of luck, along with being born at the "right" time within that culture. But of course "luck" doesn't have to be entirely random, since it can be influenced by deliberately changing one's circumstances, exposures, networks, etc. ("Chance favors the prepared mind" - Pasteur); for example, if you live in Idaho and want to get into the music business, consider relocating to a more "happening" locale.
The particular strength of Gladwell's book is that he's a great writer with outlier-level ability for storytelling. Some reviewers have criticized his book for lack of originality, but Gladwell deserves credit and success for bringing these important ideas to a large general audience in a gripping and compelling way. And he certainly doesn't claim that he came up with these ideas all by himself.
Some reviewers have also criticized Gladwell for not adequately grounding his ideas in published research and for thereby cherry-picking data and arguing with straw men. That's a somewhat odd criticism, since it contradicts the criticism of lack of originality. Moreover, there are several good books available which describe the research critics might be looking for, such as the following:
- Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin is an excellent book which overlaps considerably with Gladwell's book. The main difference is that Colvin puts greater emphasis on hard work ("deliberate practice") whereas Gladwell emphasizes luck more, so one could say that Colvin is more focused on expertise whereas Gladwell is more focused on going beyond expertise to the outlier level.
- Creativity in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist by Dean Keith Simonton is another excellent book which focuses specifically on creativity (and success) within science. The book reads like a PhD thesis and is quite rigorous in its use of careful reasoning, empirical data, and quantitative analysis. In a sophisticated way, Simonton provides strong support for Gladwell's ideas, and he ultimately argues that chance (luck) is the dominant factor in scientific creativity and success, while also recognizing the supporting roles of genius (inborn ability), zeitgeist (culture), and logic (basic knowledge of one's scientific domain and its rules of inference, which comes from hard work, perhaps again involving roughly 10,000 hours invested in education and training). Simonton also emphasizes that a scientist's chance of coming up with important results is directly related to total output (eg, number of papers published), so that ties chance to continued hard work after already becoming an expert (eg, obtaining a PhD).
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a fascinating and provocative book which, coming from a different angle, also argues for the role of unforseeable luck (positive "black swans") in producing outlier-level success, with negative black swans having the opposite effect.
In summary, I believe Gladwell has a done a great service in presenting very important ideas related to success in a user-friendly way, and I think the evidence (in his book and beyond) provides strong support for his ideas.
Very highly recommended -- indeed, a must read, especially for parents.
Book Review: About those Driven
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Outliers" Malcom Gladwell studies and discusses the "ecology of success" and to a lessor degree the "ecology of failure." Some people reach their potential, some succeed above what they thought was capable, some fall short, sometimes far short, of what they could have achieved. This isn't confined to job titles, and income. Reaching or not reaching potential can happen or not happen in a variety of life's situations. (Another question can be, how does a person even know if they've reached their potential in life? But that's another question.)
"Outliers" touches on a variety of areas. It's a quick and easy read, that reinforces Gladwell's curiosity and free-flowing writing style. This book at times reminds me of the phenomena in "Fooled by Randomness" by Taleb.
I agree that in addition to an individual's innate gifts, talents, and ambition, that a major factor in one's achievement professionally, economically, and socially is: a person's attitude, family, culture, luck, timing, situations/circumstances, and exposure to successful people and/or mentors, for guidance and encouragement. Also critical, is recognizing and seizing the opportunities that present itself in front of you.
An example that comes to mind is Malcom Gladwell's own background. You can make assumptions about how his life would be different today if he stayed, grew up, and was educated in Jamaica. Where would he be today? What job would he do? What would he know? Would he be an author?
When people call themself a "self-made" man or women, they are often self-congratulating him or herself. Jeb Bush, From a wealthy Ivy League family is the son of a President, brother of a President, and grandson of a Senator He called himself "A self-made man." Is he?
Gladwell claims the core foundation of what made these people "Outliers," is the "10,000 hour rule." For a person to be a master at any craft or discipline, they must have the motivation and drive, and also the 10,000 hours to practice, learn, and hone their craft. Makes perfect sense. If you focus on 4 hours of work per day (actual task based specific work, not the typical 8+ hour day), you reach the 10-Thousand hour mark at ten years.
Genetic Determinism + Cultural Determinism.
Yes, some people are more gifted by genetics than others.
And Cultural Determinism is only an obstacle if a person blindly accepts it, or fails to take steps to circumvent cultural restrictions.
The most positive aspect I found was that in the majority of crafts, professions, and occupations, it's drive, tenacity, and mental focus to "get good at something," that propels these people to be Outliers. The author cites that Outlier people often do not come from Ivy League institutions or from elitist backgrounds (although many do, the majority actually don't.)
Look at any profession or trade you've personally come into contact with: think of the people you've known (or not known, but read about) that were at the top-tier of their trade, or profession. How did they get there? Not because of the piece of paper they received many years prior to achieving "success." Obviously we know that intelligence alone does not guarantee achievement, as attitude, persistence, and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Practical Intelligence are significant factors.
So of course, you will find common sense and many things most of us are intuitively aware of in "Outliers." But it's still very interesting (to me) and people who dabble into these books occasionally.
STUDY OF FAILURES:
Some failures are noted also. A fatal Korean plane crash was because of mis-communication due to cultural deference from the co-pilots to the Captain. The Captain couldn't understand ground control. It was an unnecessary lack of direct inter-personal communication. Once this was discovered as a cultural issue, procedures in communication were changed.
In the "ecology of failure," humans adapt.
This book has spurred debate about superior East Asian math scores Gladwell links to thousands of year of rice farming, which he claims is linked to cultural perceptions about work, etc. Rice farming requires one to be persistent and methodical. East Asian students will work longer on a math equation to solve it, even when the task is not only difficult, but not entirely understood in the beginning. An American will quit trying to solve the task in a much shorter time. Gladwell sees this as a difference in not only *how* to approach a task or problem (to, figure it out), but also as a difference in persistence.
In sum, many readers will peruse and challenge Gladwell's methodology and his arguments. This is needed for any book, in any circumstance.
This is a book that makes you think. It's good for teens who are finding their way, as they discover their interests, talents, likes and dislikes. It's important for people not to sell themselves short, and follow the path that mainstream society often lays out for you, in all areas of life.
"Outliers is an easy-read that stokes your curiosity, but at the same time it's a coffee table book if you only have a few minutes or more.