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Outliers cover art

Outliers

Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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Publisher's Summary

From the best-selling 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 audiobook, 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.

©2008 Malcom Gladwell (P)2008 Hachette Audio

Editorial Review

What makes a person great? Why are certain bands so successful? Malcolm Gladwell begs the question and investigates the outliers of the world and their unique sensibilities.

From Malcolm Gladwell, the New York Times bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia, Blink, The Tipping Point and Talking to Strangers, comes this insightful and thought-provoking audiobook on the topic of exceptional high-achievers. What makes Outliers: The Story of Success even more outstanding is that Gladwell brilliantly narrates it.

In the Outliers audiobook, listeners are taken on an explorative sojourn into the world of aptly named outliers. Throughout, Malcolm Gladwell explores intriguing questions. What makes outliers so special? And what makes high achievers so successful?

As Malcolm Gladwell observes, we pay too much attention to what successful people are like and not enough to their past and what truly made them who they are—their background and cultural upbringing, their family, and the distinctions of their past. Is hard work all it takes? Or does the past truly make the present? Among specific examples, Outliers looks at The Beatles and Bill Gates. Were The Beatles always destined for greatness? Gladwell gives us a background on what transformed John, Paul, George, and Ringo into arguably one of the greatest bands in musical history and the strength of their cultural legacy. Was Bill Gates always supposed to be a billionaire? Listeners will also learn why Microsoft’s nerdy founder is among the most successful individuals of all time. Outliers: The Story of Success will entertain listeners and enlighten those seeking change.

Featured Article: Quotes About Hard Work to Keep You Motivated and Moving Forward

Anything worth achieving is worth working for. Those goals that we reach when we really strive for them, giving it our all, are the most rewarding. Whether it is taking small steps towards your goals, shooting for a new objective, or simply dreaming those big dreams, hard work is what gets us there. Trusting in yourself and your own abilities will allow you to dig deep, put in the time, and get where you want to be. Everything is achievable with the right mindset.

What listeners say about Outliers

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Nothing like Malcolm Gladwell in your ears

Malcolm Gladwell is a fantastic story teller. He formats his arguments elegantly, and backs them up when he needs to. This book if anything, will give you something to think about. An advantage to this audiobook is that’s it’s read by the author, and he does a phenomenal job. I can listen to Gladwell all day, everyday

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ok basic concepts

basic after chapter 5 don't waste your time 10000 hrs + = mastery overall decent

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Puts in perspective the true reasons of success

Biggest lesson: those who are outliers need both to work hard, and the ability to work hard

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Great message but read it cover to cover!

The book holds a great message about how we may have a cognitive bias to give hard work ethic more weight than it should truly be credited. It reminds us that we are but a sum of our experiences and timings; however for much of the book it goes so far in this direction that it discredits hard work ethic too much and may validate certain people on why they haven't achieved all they've wished (when it could be they are just lazy!). In that, I think the book is too slow to acknowledging the power of hard work and how important it is to have a good head on your shoulders to seize opportunity! It is far more valuable to be street smart and creative than one may think!

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very interesting approach to an original subject

loved the various very different stories to make the point the author was bringing forward.

thank you

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So interesting.

Malcolm Gladwell is my goto when I want to sit back and listen to interesting topics.

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Great book

I have listened first book from Malcolm but really do liked it it was somewhat boring in the start like just for a while but afterwards things started to get in perspective and everything got very interesting. The way he binded everything in the end by giving a personal example was exceptional and really great.

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  • Tom
  • 2020-06-17

success should lead to gratitude, not pride

reminded me of the story of the husband who prepared a beautiful breakfast in bed for his wife on Mother's Day and brought it into the bedroom with his 3 year old who proudly announced that she had made her mother breakfast in bed. she had carried the orange juice after all. Gladwell shows how often our successes are often more due to the efforts of others, sometimes of generations before us. Books like his and Talking to strangers were written for these days as we confront racism, sexism and many other structures and begin to see our some social privileges are very real, just seldom if ever earned by their recipients

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Not extremely satisfied

I don’t think the book fully explains why those outliers are successful.

There are a lot of people presented with the same opportunities, like being born in time when new technology started to gain momentum, having access to computers (it is mentioned that Jo or Gates made use of computers available in an university, but wasn’t that also true for all the students studied in that university?). And not all of them became outliers.

On the narrative side, I do not appreciate how the narrator (also author) mispronounce the Chinese number character. It has nothing to do with national pride, just that it shows the narrator didn’t do his homework and allowed his audiobook to be of less quality than it could has be.

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Very good book!

I really enjoyed this book! The content is very interesting and I learned a lot of new things!

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