My review
I've enjoyed all of Malcolm Gladwell's books--he's really good at identifying the things we all believe in (how we make decisions, how we become successful, etc.) and then unpacking them to show that our assumptions are not accurate.
Outliers is another great book. I loved each chapter, right up until the last, which is horribly out of place, disturbing, and should have been cut from the book.
Whether he's investigating how culture affects our "innate" talents, what it takes to become an expert, or how the stories of success leave out so much the writing is interesting, and the people fascinating. Some chapters go beyond eye-opening to frightening, like the chapter on air travel. And some are truly heartbreaking, like the section on education. I believe more than ever that we need to switch from a summer-based school calendar to a year-around school calendar.
I definitely recommend reading the book, but I also recommend skipping the last chapter. I know that is almost impossible to do that, but if I could go back I would skip it. The last chapter focuses on his own family, introduces no new concepts, is somewhat dull and predictable, and contains such a disturbingly graphic and upsetting image that it actually has pushed out some of the better parts of the book from my mind. And it is completely unnecessary and adds zilch to the book. Maybe he'll take it out of future additions, I hope so.
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