I’m always curious about everything and love reading non-fiction books just as much as I do fiction.  I have a stack of books in my office, bedroom, living room, just about everywhere, and in one of those beautiful dusty piles was Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.”  I picked it out from under the pile, blew the dust off and thought we’d end our 2016 book club year with “Outliers.”

I love reading Gladwell’s work.  It’s understandable to a non-scientific rube like me and it’s always fun to discuss at book club.  When I read his work, it’s like I’m sitting down having a conversation with him.  I get it.  Well, most of it. And I remember pieces of it for a long time.

We are a product of our environment – we all know that innately.  We know somehow that we have similarities with Grandma or Grandpa because our parents always told us “you’re just like your Grandmother or Grandfather.”  But after we eye-rolled ourselves out of the conversation with our parents we never gave it much thought.  In “Outliers,” Gladwell not only believes there is a strong connection with immediate family, but also with your ancestors.

He has such an inquisitive mind and I can imagine him sitting in Central Park, or anywhere, absorbing everything around him, connecting the conversation of the people behind him with a conversation he heard at a lecture the week before, forming a connection then researching and interviewing people until he starts to connect the Legos of our lives building one on top of the other until this his unique perspective is complete. 

In this case Gladwell believes that people have become successful because they seized opportunities given to them. Those opportunities happened because they were born at the right time, under the right circumstances and environment, with the right legacy.  Going beyond the idea that smart people who work hard become successful.

We followed Gladwell’s journey through the rocky hillsides of Italy and Pennsylvania, to Canada, to the garment district in New York City at the turn of the century, and then to Wall Street as he builds his theory of the importance of opportunity and legacy and timing.

Alas, I’m afraid that I was born at the wrong time, entered the wrong profession, with no legacy that will ensure I’m successful.  Damn!

So, why is this a book for book clubs?  Because Gladwell is so much fun to read and follow on his cerebral journeys.  We have a MIT techie in book club who was around the tech explosion in the 70’s and 80’s and had access to computers like Bill Gates and Bill Joy (two of the people Gladwell discusses).  We were lucky to have some first-hand discussion of the opportunities being made at that time.  We also talked a lot about the 10,000 hours needed for success and theories on Jewish lawyers and the garment industry.  This book just lends itself to some fun discussions.

An anecdotal story about a Jewish immigrant hit home for me.  Louis and his wife came to America in 1889 and had to figure out a way to make a living.  He tried to sell fish, then had a cart to sell items, then one day he saw a little girl with an apron on.

“When Louis came home after first seeing that child’s apron, he danced a jig.  He hadn’t sold anything yet.  He was still penniless & desperate, and he knew that to make something of his idea was going to require years of back breaking labor.  But he was ecstatic, because the prospect of those endless years of hard labor did not seem like a burden to him.  Bill Gates had the same feeling when he first sat down at the keyboard and the Beatles when they played 8 hours a night 7 nights a week.  Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.”

I felt the same way about a book I’ve been writing and I hope it’s half as successful as Louis’s business turned out to be.

Wishing you all success in your endeavors!

Rating:  8.5