Book Review: Outliers

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell already has a great following and plenty of praise. The writing is quite deliberate to construct a well collected thesis. It gathers up stories from around the world to convince us of some nearly self-evident truths that are worth repeating. At the end of my copy of the book, there were two pages of quotations on the account of newspaper editors who praised the book. I don't think I should simply repeat their same words but I can add my own.

I feel that I was searching for years to find Outliers but I didn't know it. Not because I knew what stories the book contained, but instead because my own thoughts throughout my adolescence on how someone becomes somebody (which drove me to hours upon hours of self reflection on what success took). The subtitle "The Story of Success" is really what the book answers. How do some members of our collective society become wealthy beyond the measure of others?

I had a hard time coming to critic the book until I read other critics. There are some good points out there with regards to how the book strives to set up these wonderful 'got it' moments. It is quite intended though so I don't quite get that criticism too much. This is popular sociology of sorts so it tries to be a bit entertaining and not just dry old sociology stuff.

This is a book I will share with a lot of different people. Some to get their perspective, others to help build their perspective.

9/10