A Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

After much hesitation, I finally decided to give it a read. It turned out to be a completely different book than I had imagined. From the buzz around it and the comments of those who had read it, I had the perception that Outliers is another one of those motivational "you-can-do-it-too" success-story books... but to my astonishment it was anything but!
This book is not about "cut a picture of a bike and imagine riding it, until your grandpa buys it for you!". In this book Malcolm does not glorify successful people nor does he implies that just about anyone could be as successful as self-made billionaires!

He explains through numerous examples, research, and hard data that success is dependant upon many important factors, from personality traits to cultural habits and beliefs to racial background to birth dates!

In part one, the book describes that in order to be successful at a professional level one has to put in about 10,000 hours. But is it that simple? The opportunity for accumulating 10,000 hours is not offered to everyone, some people are "luckier" than others in this regard... for example, if a child is into hokey and is living in Canada and is born in January, February, or March, that child has a better chance of realizing that dream than those born later in the year! Or if a youngster, born in the 50s in the U.S, is provided and seizes the opportunity to work with a computer for numerous "free" hours in the 70s, that teenager will become a Bill Gates or a Bill Joy (co-founder of Sun Mircosystems)! Of course there is no denial that the individual has to have the required talent, motivation, and will power to get there, but such opportunities are/were not present for just about anyone!
The book also emphasizes on the importance of parenting, pleasant social behaviour, and being "in the right place at the right time".

In part two, Malcolm looks at success through a wider lens. He examines the critical--and sometimes catastrophic--role that cultures play on individuals. In one case he explains how a cultural inappropriateness of challenging authority resulted in a deadly plane crash! A Colombian flight about to land in NYC was out of fuel, but the co-pilot could not bring himself to challenge the flight control centre for making them wait!
He goes on to explain how people from southern China are more hardworking than the rest due to cultural belief of "no pain, no gain"!

Malcolm wraps his book by telling the story of his mother, a Jamaican immigrant to Canada. He explains how his mother was lucky enough to be born at the right time, to have the right shade of color(!), parents, community, culture, and was willing to seize the opportunities and face the challenges...

Outliers is different than many of its counterparts--an outlier in itself!
This book can be depressing at times--with stories about those smart individuals who had to face harsh realities of life, like, wars, economical depressions, less caring families, etc. It can cause a "Oh woe is me" reaction at the end (so beware)!
On a positive note, it has nicely pointed out the main ingredients of success.
Overall, I liked it and would recommend it.