{"id":806,"date":"2011-02-16T11:21:25","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T16:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antipaucity.com\/?p=806"},"modified":"2011-02-16T11:21:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T16:21:25","slug":"outliers-by-malcolm-gladwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/?p=806","title":{"rendered":"outliers by malcolm gladwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have now read a few items by {{Malcolm Gladwell}}, but so far have liked {{Outliers}} most. The premise is Mr Gladwell’s research that if you hit ~10000 hours working on something, you become fabulous. That, and being born right after an age cutoff (say, 3 Jan when the age cutoff is 31 Dec) will give you a marked leg-up on your teammates\/opponents (and duh! an almost-8-year-old will do better at most things than a just-7-year-old).<\/p>\n

Oh – and parents have a strong influence on their children: if they encourage their children, they’re more likely to do well. And individual attitude\/drive is important, too – if you want<\/em> to do well, you’re more likely to.<\/p>\n

Some would say that Mr Gladwell cherry-picked his subjects: but then again, who doesn’t when writing a book that wants to present a particular conclusion? I do wish he had put some counter-examples to his general thesis – if for no other reason than to show they are the exceptions, which proves the rule he tries to establish in the book.<\/p>\n

Mr Gladwell is a noted journalist, and has articles published in a variety of well-known magazines and newspapers. His style is very accessible, and while he present new material and\/or tries to make points, he doesn’t ever talk down to the reader: you feel like he’s bringing you on a journey of discovery, and you’re finding-out what he’s telling you as he is discovering it for himself.<\/p>\n