31st March 2016 - 2 comments

Outliers by Malcolm Galdwell

 

Outliers is one of those books that you will probably stumble upon every now and then when looking for "books that I've read" or "books that everyone should read" and don't be afraid of going with the flow because there's a big chance that Gladwell will turn into one of your favourite writers.

With great and useful insights that will help you to understand what makes someone successful, it will demystify every preconception that you have ever had about this theme.

In a very personal note, this book made me look at my life with a different and fresh perspective. We are taught to think about our future, and what we want to do, to be, to visit, etc. Malcolm analysis how the year, the day and the place you were born and where you lived in your early years of life will define most of your personality and, most likely, your achievements. It's a book that made me embrace my past experiences, while understanding how people like Bill Gates, The Beatles and Bill Joy were/are so successful.

Gladwell, points out the connection between sense of opportunity, risk and motivation in one of the most brilliant books that I've recently read.

In case you're still wondering, this book is not about the need to be intelligent to be successful and on this note I will finish this with one of many brilliant metaphores that you will find in this book:

[...] IQ is a lot like height in basketball. Does someone who is five foot six have realistic chance of playing professional basketball? Not really. You need to be at least six foot or six one to play at that level, and, all things being equal, it's probably better to be six two than six one, and better to be six three than six two. But past a certain point, height stops mattering so much. A player who is six foot eight is not automatically better than someone two inches shorter. (Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever, was six six after all.) A basketball player only has to be tall enough — and the same is true of intelligence. Intelligence has a threshold.

Malcolm Gladwell

Published by: João Miranda in Book of the month, Graphic Design
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Comments

João Fernandes
2nd April 2016 at 1:05 pm

Lovely reading João.
It’s probably a bad idea to talk more about the book, but yet I think that you could help us further understand how the book had an impact on your life. How the book has shaped your life.

Cheers,
João Fernandes

    João Miranda
    3rd April 2016 at 6:34 pm

    Thanks for your feedback João, I really appreciate it.
    It’s still fresh, so I can’t really say that it already has an impact on my life, although it will definitely improve my judgement on people, success and more than everything, question what does the word “success” really means. At least for me.
    There are loads of books to help you to think about this matter but Gladwell is a great storyteller.
    In the meantime, I recommend you to watch one his TED Talks. You can start by this one.

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