by Malcolm Gladwell
reviewed by Lindan Pham, class of 2015
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell is an excellent read. For those that don’t know this author, he is an amazing journalist and (may be) researcher. He searches for many counterintuitive in what we take to be ordinary. His works usually talks about and uncovers the truths that are hidden behind his strange data. One of his famous works that consists of these strange data is Outliers.
Often we are told about extremely successful people and how they achieved it through intelligence and ambition. However, Gladwell thought otherwise. He thinks that hard work is critical to success, but then successful people were often just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. He also thinks that work is important but working for 10,000 hours on skills seems to be the rule of thumb.
The funny thing about Malcolm Gladwell’s books is that: 1) it won’t require you any analytical thinking, 2) it won’t tell you something you don’t already know, and 3) it won’t make a statement that you might disagree with. I found out about this after every chapter. I also find this book a little “depressing” because it shows that hard work alone just doesn’t cut it. You need to be “chosen” to be successful. You can’t just walk in saying that you worked hard and get that spot. But then if I ever find myself deep in thought about my future, or if I ever lose sight of my goal, I believe that Malcolm’s words can help me just when it matters most. He shows me a (small) ray of hope to lead me back to my right path, my goal. I think that everyone should read this book at least once. Or may be read his other works if they have the chance to because his books can change your whole perspective on things. It's interesting how he does it!
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