End Review: Outliers

            Well, I finally finished my fifth book, and I could not have wrapped up this blogging experience with a better book.  Outliers touches upon every major idea that I have mentioned throughout this blog, and it stays true to Malcolm Gladwell’s fantastic style.  When I read The Killer Angels, one of the primary themes I looked at was the way that faith, especially in God, can be such a uniting, common element, even amongst men who kill each other to resolve conflicts.  In Outliers, Gladwell told the story of a girl, Marita, who had to give up her way of life and shed her cultural identity in order to attend -- and succeed at -- a new school.  She believed that it was the right thing to do, and the school’s founders do as well.  Making that leap of faith into the unknown can be difficult without the belief that everything will turn out well in the end.

            The next book I read, David and Goliath, was also written by Gladwell, so finding similarities between the two Gladwell books I read was not difficult.  One of the interesting parts about reading Outliers after reading David and Goliath was that in the latter, he commented on something he had written in Outliers, and went a little deeper.  So, when I read Outliers, I could supplement his arguments with updated evidence and analyses.

            In Night, Elie Wiesel was profoundly changed by the places in which he was forced to grow up.  He went from a devout Jew who placed every triumph in God’s hands to a scarred human too angry with tragedies to even question the veracity of a God -- let alone his.  In Outliers, one of Gladwell’s primary arguments is that nobody is “self-made.”  We are influenced by the people we grow up with, the places we grow up in, and the resources and opportunities that come our way.

            And in 1984, Orwell writes about the control that the Party takes to establish and spread itself.  On a happier note, Gladwell suggests that those who are successful also take control and seize every grand or small opportunity.  It is partly through being assertive that the powerful and successful come to be.

            As you can tell, Outliers offers a lot of critical commentary on our definition of what sets some apart from others.  To go back to the example I used in the first paragraph, Marita is a really devoted student.  She works really hard; in fact, at the time she was interviewed, “She had the hours of a lawyer trying to make partner, or of a medical resident.  All that was missing were the dark circles under her eyes and a steaming cup of coffee, except that she was too young for either” (265).  Success isn’t an accident.  It stems from hard work and incredible opportunities.

            Gladwell writes on the concluding page of Outliers that success “is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky” (285).  We often attribute what seems like a miracle or too good to be true to some higher authority.  However, by analyzing various causes, we can begin to piece together incredible effects.

            Like the other two Gladwell books I’ve read, Outliers followed a pretty predictable story arc.  On the whole, Gladwell uses a variety of examples and stories to illustrate larger points, but on a smaller level, sometimes it is hard to predict where he is going.  In the end though, seemingly random occurrences come together to connect and form a powerful argument.

            I had been wanting to read this book for a few years, and I am so happy I finally got the chance to do so.  It was a pleasure to read many different anecdotes and learn valuable lessons at the same time.  I enjoyed all of the books that I read, and I appreciate the comments and other analyses I got to read over the past few weeks.  Thanks for following this blog!