Outliers
I just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s fairly disappointing Outliers.
The thesis in Outliers is that, in order to be successful in life, being lucky and being privileged matter. Nobody truly goes ‘from rags to riches’ — that every exceedingly successful person (Bill Gates, Bill Joy, etc.) was given a rare opportunity to achieve beyond their peers at some early stage in their lives.
As is typical of a Gladwell work, a point is introduced, and every chapter is dedicated to reiterating that point. No new ground is explored, just page after page of anecdotes to help drive the original argument home. Outliers strays from this presentation slightly by introducing disjointed musings throughout the majority of the book.
All in all, I give this book a 2 out of 5.
I’ve abridged his review slightly. I would add that, if you’re at all right of Castro, politically, this book smacks of liberal propaganda. Gladwell is an incredibly talented writer, but the fundamental thesis he’s chosen is annoying here at best, and promotes a defeatist attitude at worst: “if you haven’t been blessed with special advantages, don’t bother. And don’t be impressed with what successful people have achieved.”
The one good bit of news, buried in an otherwise depressing message, is that anyone who spends 10K hours doing anything can become an expert. I find that inspiring. I especially like knowing that the Beatles worked their asses off in their early years, and that they were not simply musical geniuses by chance.
