Outliers -- The Story of Success Book Review

Malcolm Gladwell’s Latest New York Times Bestseller

Mar 31, 2009 Mary McCarthy

Outliers: The Story of Success is a New York Times Bestseller. But is it worth reading?

Malcolm Gladwell’s New York Times bestselling book Outliers is his third in a seeming series, following his other hit books The Tipping Point and Blink. In his latest book, Gladwell addresses the eternal question: Why do some people succeed far more than others?

The Author

Malcolm Gladwell is a staffer at The New Yorker, former staffer at the Washington Post, winner of the National Magazine Award, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Therefore, he is a brilliant man and is admired by scores. His book, however, while acclaimed by 'friendly critics' in Gladwell's own field, has received some criticism from the everyday reader.

Book Critiques

It seems many ‘buyers’ who are the ones allegedly putting books on the NYT bestseller list, have found some issues with the book. The main criticisms revolve around the factual research into the book’s premise that only those who are privileged in some way will become successful. Other criticisms cite the book’s unoriginality and the book’s notion that success in life is measured by money and depends on where and when you were born.

One reviewer, M. McDonald on amazon.com states

“Your success is not your own, rather its determined by forces outside of your control, like when you were born, your ethnic background, and other factors…While I found Gladwell's book well written and the stories interesting, I found the basic conclusion to be unhelpful and not particularly enlightening.”

Book Summary

One of the book’s nine chapters explores the theory that 10,000 hours of practice can make someone reach a level of expertise in their chosen field, citing examples like the Beatles playing music in Hamburg for endless nights, the fact that Bill Gates experienced 10,000 of hours of practice on computers in Michigan, etc.

Another chapter explores the lives of small children, stating Gladwell’s belief that children whose lives are closely monitored and managed by very involved parents end up becoming more successful than less privileged children who are forced to play outside for many hours and create their own experiences and interactions.

Other chapters include one on the poor communication style and subsequent airline disaster rate of Korean pilots, the extreme successes of the children who were born (around 1955) to parents of immigrant Jewish clothing manufacturers, and the success rate of Canadian hockey players as a result of when during the calendar year they were born. Another chapter in Outliers explores how working in rice paddies makes Asians good at math.

Another amazon.com reviewer, touches on the issue of racial sensitivities in the book. M. Hilton “Eximio” states, “I have pretty much figured out his formula. Gladwell is half black as well as a Canadian. Basically, he writes about things that would normally be politically incorrect for a white person to write about.

For example, according to Gladwell, Asians are good at math because they come from a culture of growing rice. He does this from behind the "shield" of being half black, so of course he can't possibly be implying anything racist or ethnocentric.”

Although Outliers is experiencing success on the NYT bestseller list, it has also received a number of valid critiques, raising concerns about the completeness of this 'story of success.'

(Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell, Malcolm, Little Brown, 2008. ISBN-10: 0316017922)

The copyright of the article Outliers -- The Story of Success Book Review in Self-Help Books is owned by Mary McCarthy. Permission to republish Outliers -- The Story of Success Book Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Outliers