Summary of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638153436

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Analysis

of

Malcolm Gladwell’s

Outliers

The Story of Success

Table of Contents

Overview

Key Insights

Key Insight 1

Key Insight 2

Key Insight 3

Key Insight 4

Key Insight 5

Key Insight 6

Key Insight 7

Key Insight 8

Important People

Author’s Style

Author’s Perspective

Overview

Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell examines statistically anomalous people and events to better understand why individuals succeed or fail. Too many people toil under the myth of meritocracy. By upending the false belief that success is solely the product of ability and hard work, Gladwell sheds new light on some of recent history’s greatest triumphs—and tragedies.

Gladwell examines outliers from two main perspectives: the personal opportunities the outliers benefited from and the cultural legacies they inherited. All too often, personal opportunities that lead to success are attributed to an individual’s intelligence and persistence when a better explanation is luck. Highly successful people tend to enjoy some small advantage that, over time, has a cumulative effect. Often, these individuals have access to some