Book Log 2021 #5: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

What is it that makes the most successful people successful? Is it all hard work, determination, and grit, or are there other factors that allow some to rise while others fall? Gladwell looks to asnwer these questions in this book, which I read to fulfill a self-help book requirement for a reading challenge. Which is kind of funny, as I don't think whoever classified this as "self-help" actually read the book.

The reason I say that is because many of the factors that Gladwell identifies as promoting success are beyond an individual's control. Things like birth date, family socioeconomic status, and where one grows up all can play an outsized role in whether or not you become an outlier. No one factor is determinative, but it can give a person a leg up that others with similar intelligence may not get.

This is also the book where Gladwell talks a lot about the "10,000 hour rule," where putting in that much practice at a particular endeavour allows you to develop the talent needed to succeed. He cites the Beatles (and all of their club gigs in Hamburg) and Bill Gates (and his access to a computer as a youth) as examples. I tend to not buy into this idea so much, as I think you need at least some innate ability to make use of this much practice. It's also worth noting that the researcher who is credited with the rule, Anders Ericsson, later clarified that the "rule" isn't really a rule.

The book was fine for what I needed to read it for. It's certainly better than most self-help books, for what that's worth.