Outliers: The Story of Success — Review

this post was originally published on my Goodreads account.

I feel like this book should be required reading for every student in America. It teaches two great lessons that get to the heart of our national identity:

1) work hard at what you want to do, and

2) if you succeed, recognize that you had a ton of help.

The book, in keeping with most of Gladwell’s stuff, isn’t exhaustively researched, exactly – I felt like there were probably a ton of dead ends in his research before he was able to construct the delicate branches of evidence on which his ideas rest – but the examples he does choose are instructive, and enough to make me reconsider a lot of the preconceptions I tend to have about genius and the nature of success. Like everything Gladwell’s ever written, it’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and full of little facts you can steal to make yourself appear smarter at parties.