Outliers

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Anyone else checked this out?

I found it to offer an interesting perspective on success. I wish the author would have gone into more detail and offered more specific hypotheses, but overall it was a good read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)


"In Outliers, Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success. To support his thesis, he examines the causes of why the majority of Canadian ice hockey players are born in the first few months of the calendar year, how Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates achieved his extreme wealth, and how two people with exceptional intelligence, Christopher Langan and J. Robert Oppenheimer, end up with such vastly different fortunes"

"Outliers asserts that success depends on the idiosyncrasies of the selection process used to identify talent just as much as it does on the athletes' natural abilities"

 

[Rusto]

very good read

 

[The Duke of Earl]

the hook of this song plays in my head everytime mr. nice guy posts

 

[Neshani]

Downloaded it to my iPod, I'll give it a read when I'm finished with my current book.

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

the hook of this song plays in my head everytime mr. nice guy posts

LOL

 

[JoMoDo]

I'm finishing up Tipping Point, then there is a middle one, and I am on my way to Outliers. My bro-in-law got me hip, but I wanted to read Gladwells works sequentially.

Get your 10k hours in now. (there must be a lot of siccness experts here huh?)

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Downloaded it to my iPod, I'll give it a read when I'm finished with my current book.

It is a quick read but it really gives a good perspective on how individuals achieve success and gives a great counter to anyone who thinks their success is individually achieved independent of external influences.

I am picking up Gladwell's other books to read in the future based on my enjoyment of this one.

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

I'm finishing up Tipping Point, then there is a middle one, and I am on my way to Outliers. My bro-in-law got me hip, but I wanted to read Gladwells works sequentially.

Get your 10k hours in now. (there must be a lot of siccness experts here huh?)

Man I just finished up Tipping Point and I liked that one even more than Outliers.


The part about the 80/20 rule and incorporating some of the ideas of Pareto's Distribution into the way humans naturally organize ourselves was very interesting, because I have always been fascinated by Pareto's Distribution.

Gladwell's books do a great job of presenting the general idea and then telling you where to find more specific information.

I added about 10 books to my list just from the references of Tipping Point.

 

[JoMoDo]

^^^

'the 80/20 principle' by Koch is recommended then, much more dry though.

 

[Dhadnot]

i've had tipping point for 4 years now and I haven't read it...guess I should crack it open.

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

^^^

'the 80/20 principle' by Koch is recommended then, much more dry though.

Yup that one is already on the list

I also added;

"Nature Via Nurture : Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human" by Matt Ridley, which I have high hopes for because I really enjoyed his work with "The Red Queen"

 

[JoMoDo]

Finally got to Outliers, great read, and a real page turner:Educational yet entertaining. I enjoy how Gladwells poignant writing style continues to combine contemporary anecdotes with sociological theories.

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Finally got to Outliers, great read, and a real page turner:Educational yet entertaining. I enjoy how Gladwells poignant writing style continues to combine contemporary anecdotes with sociological theories.

I checked out 80/20 Principle, it was good but there was a lot of room for improvement IMO, especially in the latter part of the book.

Have you read any;

Steven Landsburg, David Friedmanm, or Steven Pinker(who has actually been going back and forth over the internet with Gladwell on some of his assertions) stuff? While different, I found them to be a little more interesting with greater detail & support than Gladwell

 

[JoMoDo]

Steven Landsburg, David Friedmanm, or Steven Pinker(who has actually been going back and forth over the internet with Gladwell on some of his assertions) stuff? While different, I found them to be a little more interesting with greater detail & support than Gladwell

I have not, but will definitely look into Pinker and let you know what I think.

I'm waiting on my 'Art of War' to come from Amazon, b/c I figure it's time that I catch up on some classics....