Outliers: The Story of Success Audiobook

[errantember]

NOTE: Beginning with this review, I'm using Amazon's Associate Program for my links. If someone buys something after clicking through a link here, I get money. My commitment is that I'm only going to link to things I find interesting, and I'm not going to inflate my reviews in order to sell more books. I think there will be positive effects beyond earning what will likely be a tiny amount of money, the main one being that I'll be motivated to actually review more often. I read a *lot* of really interesting books, and often I don't take the time to review them. I'd also like to develop my critical voice, so if anyone has any constructive feedback on how to make the reviews better, I'd love to hear it! Now, on to the review!

What do two geniuses, a spate of Korean airline crashes, and blood feuds in Appalachian Kentucky have in common? Why is it that Asian students consistently cream their peers in mathematics? How important is, really, where we come from in whether or not we succeed? When you read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success, the answers may surprise you. Challenging more pedestrian explanations, he digs deep into the past to discover the fascinating origins of some very strange social phenomenon. The audio version breathes life into the story, as Gladwell's focused, fascinated voice carries us from the meticulous art of the Chinese rice paddy to the tension inside a airliner cockpit seconds before over a hundred people's live are snuffed out. Gladwell not only weaves a story pregnant with implications about our history, our assumptions, and what we might do to improve the future, but he brings it full circle by telling the story of his own family, and how without each intersection of chance, locale, prejudice, and hard work, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to write the fascinating book you hold in your hands.

Comments

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

That's a SUPER well-written review. I admit to being really interested in a more casual review... maybe one that talks more about how you feel and how the book applies to your life directly. :P

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Overall I really liked the book, because it's conclusions are pretty democratic in terms of debunking a lot of myths about geniuses and how some people are "inherently" better at certain things than others. It also both validates and challenges the idea that you can make accurate guesses about how someone will behave in certain situations if you know about their background. Sometimes broad generalizations *are* mostly correct.

In one way I felt very bad about the book, because one of it's main messages is that inherent talent and skill don't really count for much compared to really hard work and the luck of being in the right place at the right time. As someone who's sanity generally rests on the idea that I can get ahead faster and with less work than other people, conclusions like the idea that you need 10,000 hours of work to become a master at anything, no matter how talented you are, are very depressing. I want to master more than 6 or 7 things this lifetime!

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

Re: talent and skill, I had to get over this in singing and in other things too. I got through all my schooling on talent and being "the smart kid", and learned not to try too hard, because I did just fine (by my very low "will I get in trouble?" standards) without trying at all. That has all had to change a lot, and it's going to have to change a little more. I'm happier and more fulfilled now that it's changed, though.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Public education was never really worthy of my full attention, anyway, so it didn't matter so much then. When I got to college and I had to suddenly *work* for my grades, I got pretty offended, and never really recovered. It's yet another case of public education's total failure to motivate young people to love learning rather than hate it.

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of this!

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Dammit! I need to get my headphones back into my backpack. Time to add it to my list.

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, watch that -- it's EXTRAORDINARY.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

I agree with his sentiment, and love his delivery, but I also feel like he didn't really say much. Maybe it's because he's preaching to the choir, but maybe it's also because 75% of his presentation was only peripherally related jokes, great though they were.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

I actually remember the one time in my whole educational career when I actually felt like the dumbest person in class. It was an electrical engineering class, and it was a very, very bad feeling. In retrospect, it makes me understand more what people who are judged by the system as being "less able" must go through in school.