Book: Outliers

Just wrapped up this quick read: <a href=”http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780316017923-8″ title=”outliers book”>Outliers: The Story of Success</a>.<br />n<br />n<img src=”http://content-3.powells.com/cover?isbn=9780316017923″ alt=”” /><br />n<br />nThis was a pretty attention keeping read for a couple of reasons. One, learning about what makes successful people successful is always intriguing. Second, learning that in the context of actual people, some famous, some not, in the form of stories of their lives really helps to bring it home. There is nothing like a good story, especially when conventional assumptions of success are being broken.<br />n<br />nGladwell argues that to be a huge success like the folks he highlights, such as a couple of Bills (Joy and Gates), lawyers and airline pilots, a big factor has to do with when you are born, whether a time in history or time of year.<br />n<br />nAnother factor isn’t so surprising: Hard work, and lots of it. Specifically, he says the magic number is ten thousand hours of practice.<br />n<br />nAnd another factor that needs to be taken into account is the person’s background, or where they are from. Either you come from a background that has success factors already factored in and you build on it, or you recognize the limitations that you background imposes, and take steps to mitigate.<br />n<br />nI won’t provide more details, I don’t want to be a spoiler, but it’s interesting, affirming, and recommended.<br />n<br />nRecommended (Yes/No/Maybe): <strong>Yes</strong><br />nReading Difficulty (Low/Medium/High): <strong>Low</strong><br />nLevel of Interest Grabbing (Low/Medium/High): <strong>High</strong>