Outliars (Malcolm Gladwell)

The best-selling author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference has released a new book of a similar flavor: Outliers: The Story of Success. While Outliars is getting mixed reviews, it sounds like if you found The Tipping Point interesting, you won’t be disappointed with this book either. I’ve not read The Tipping Point, but I’ve heard good things from various sources. In this new title, Gladwell explores interesting (and sometimes strange) patterns behind the unparalleled success of certain groups of individuals. What do Bill Gates, the Beatles and Mozart have in common? Publishers Weekly notes that “along with talent and ambition, each enjoyed an unusual opportunity to intensively cultivate a skill that allowed them to rise above their peers.” Most pro hockey players were born in January. According to Amazon’s Best of The Month review, the book also reveals “how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots’ culture impacts their crash record, and how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math.”
Anyway, thought I’d pass it along FWIW since it seems I’m mainly mentioning books these days (trying to get the politics addiction out of my system).