Outliers

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is not a book I would have thought to read, but I started it when I was on vacation in the Middle East, where I had few choices of books that were in English. However, because of Gladwell’s, choice of topic areas and unique style of writing, I find myself enjoying the book. Outliers is “The story of Success” according to the front cover. Throughout the book, Gladwell describes what it takes to be successful (such as 10,000 hours of practice) and how who you are determines how accomplished you will be. A section of the book that I found particularly interesting is about plane crashes and what it takes to be a successful pilot. Gladwell uses quotes from recordings of pilots before they crash, which makes an otherwise boring chapter, quite interesting. He analyzes these quotes so deeply that he discovers that it is typically the pilot or captain’s personality that causes a plain crash. Gladwell also uses the pilot or captain’s personality to characterize their nationality. For example, according to Gladwell, Americans are generally direct people, and Koreans have many very polite cultural traditions—to be a good pilot, you need to be able to plainly point out your superior’s mistakes. Those who are overly polite have a difficult time doing this, making Americans the better pilot, by nature. Gladwell’s bluntness makes Outliers both controversial and fascinating. By digging deeper into analysis, Gladwell shares with the reader his discoveries about seemingly simplistic events.