karenbm

This book was fascinating! Well, let me revise that a little bit. This book was fascinating, but.... Gladwell introduces Outliers with an incredible premise that grabs the reader immediately: the concept of the "self-made man" is a fallacy. That is to say, the idea that anyone from poverty can simply work hard and, with a little bit of ingenuity and gumption, pull himself up by his bootstraps and enjoy great success is only a fairy tale version of the story. What Gladwell asks us to do is, through a series of chapters designed to clarify various aspects of his argument, is to cast aside this fallacy and take a more critical look at this story and evaluate what is fact and what is fiction. Initially, this is immensely engaging and I found myself being swept up in argument. However, the more I read, the less impressed I became. Ultimately (and I am paring this down a good bit), Gladwell's argument is that individuals who are successful become so because they are born at just the right time, get a lot of practice at what they do well, and luck into a number of opportunities that help them become successful. So let me get this straight....successful people are born with some talent, luck into a number of opportunities, more often than not come from well-off families, and work hard at what they're good at? That's not a revelation. That's common sense! This is not to say that Gladwell's book is not an enjoying read. It is. My difficulty with it is that the argument behind it doesn't really say anything new, and, I would argue, Gladwell takes an overly simplistic view of things in order to make his book more entertaining and widely accessible.

2020-08-10 00:45