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Outliers

The Story of Success

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Outliers

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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About this listen

 From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia, learn what sets high achievers apart—from Bill Gates to the Beatles—in this seminal work from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review).

In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate. Anthropology Career Success Communication & Social Skills Decision-Making & Problem Solving Personal Development Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions Thought-Provoking Career Inspiring Leadership Business Mathematics Aviation Success Health

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Critic reviews

"In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today...Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward."—David Leonhardt, New York Times Book Review
"The explosively entertaining Outliers might be Gladwell's best and most useful work yet...There are both brilliant yarns and life lessons here: Outliers is riveting science, self-help, and entertainment, all in one book."—Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly
"No other book I read this year combines such a distinctive prose style with truly thought-provoking content. Gladwell writes with a high degree of dazzle but at the same time remains as clear and direct as even Strunk or White could hope for."—Atlanta Journal Constitution
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Most relevant
A fascinating and thought-provoking book, with some excellent insights into human nature, and what goes into making great people great.

The narrator and the quality of the recording were very good.

Essential reading.

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It actually changed my view on success and taught me so much! Highly recommend this

Insightful and personal

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This was my first book by Gladwell. Interesting book indeed, I like his structure and logical conclusions. For myself I’ve taken few highlights from the book:

* Matthew effect - those who are successful were most likely to be given more advantage which leads to further success. Success is result of accumulative advantage
* How does your date of birth impacts your results in certain sport ? Very interesting analysis.
* I did not know the story of Bill Joy (Sun Microsystems / Edison of internet) - was fascinating to read
* Practice is not a thing that you do once you are good, that’s the thing which makes you good
* Beatles story of 12k times performances in Hamburg was interesting to learn
* It is important how old you were/are when changes were/are happen[ing]
* The basketball player just have to be toll enough (after certain height additional inches do not matter much). Same with intelligence (IQ). It has certain threshold
* Concept of practical intelligence - knowing what to say to whom and when to say it knowing how to say it with the maximum effect
* Sugar coating and mitigating speech - does not work in many situations - we use when we want to be polite or we are ashamed but should for sure it should not be used in emergencies
* How cultural and language differences impacts our perception and mindsets ( with the example how Chinese and Russian peasants use proverbs)

Will read more of Gladwell’s books

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Loved it! really interesting and a pleasure to read. thank you Malcolm really feels like you researched everything and presented it so well

Eye opening

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loved where the book started and ended. each chapter shining light on the overall conclusion on the book. highly recommend. the narrator is easy and clear to listen to.

great book and easy to listen and follow

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