City News

Outliers, an incredibly illuminating non-fiction book by Malcolm Gladwell illustrates the common misconceptions about how people become successful. Malcolm Gladwell examines multiple successful individuals and groups, from the Beatles to Bill Gates. He uses lots of data to illustrate the different paths that equally talented people can take. For example, he talks about Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and then he compares his success to that of Chris Langan, a verified genius with an IQ of 195. While Bill Gates created an insanely profitable company, allowing him to accumulate massive sums of wealth, Chris Langan, who has a much higher IQ than Bill Gates, now works as a farmer in the Midwest. Gladwell uses this shocking contrast to illustrate the surprising factors that go into making someone successful. By the end of the novel, Gladwell illustrates all of the luck and opportunity that goes into making someone successful, as well as how culture can play an interesting part in making people successful.

            I find this book incredibly fascinating. I really enjoy how Gladwell uses so many stories to support his perspective. Each chapter cites new concepts and stories which provide a different perspective on how success changes from person to person. I enjoy his writing style as well, as he clearly outlines the story first, and then he breaks down the significant parts of the story that influence that person or group’s success. Gladwell breaks each section down into subsections, which makes it very easy to understand the individual points that he develops over the course of the chapter and ultimately, the book. Furthermore, Gladwell bases all of his extrapolations on data, and he provides all of the data via footnotes and tables, really allowing the reader to see his thought process and draw their own conclusions as well. 

            Personally, I think that every high schooler should read this book because it challenges our perceptions of success incredibly accurately. Current high schoolers have lots of pressure that forces them towards becoming successful, but Outliers shows how nuanced and complex the idea of success is. Understanding Gladwell’s point about how success arises in such different and unique ways gives a powerful insight into the true roots of success. The stories that Gladwell selects also really helped me understand the situation, as many of them have enough notoriety that I knew about the person or study before. However, even with the stories that I did not know previously, Gladwell explains them expertly, and I really appreciate getting such a solid foundation of the story before moving into analyzing the story. I usually do not read many nonfiction books, but Gladwell’s writing style makes it really easy to follow and incredibly interesting to read. 

            I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 as it completely changes my perspective on success. I enjoy the writing style, as well as the content. Even though Gladwell bases this book strongly on data, I still find it incredibly poignant and powerful, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the caveats of success. 

Checkout Outliers from the Newport Beach Public Library.