Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

The first thing that is missing in the book is an explanation on what does success mean to the author. Success might mean different things to different people. Is it about being famous, rich, doing something that changes people’s lives, helping others or being happy? So many people with values similar to mine would reject the traditional definitions of success: being rich or famous or having a best-selling book or creating a huge business is not all there is to life.

For me success isn’t about achieving something in the future, but about doing something right now that you love.

Unfortunately the author has covered examples of famous and rich people like Bill Gates to prove his theory on secret of success. There are not enough examples in the book to support his theory. I found the last few chapters irrelevant to the topic; specially the ones on math skills, airline accidents and farming. But it is definitely something that makes you think on what success mean to you. Worth a read!