38.12: Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcom Gladwell (2008 hardcover)

This book was published a number of years ago, but it is the 2012 Book of the Year selection at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, our local university and community college. I picked a copy up at Eureka Books in Old Town for five or six dollars, and Eddie and I decided to read it together. It always takes us some time to get through our joint selections, as our read-aloud time is generally restricted to road trips (One of my many talents is that I can read while riding in a car without getting sick) and lazy mornings in bed, of which there have been very few in recent busy months. Our recent Thanksgiving travels to and from Portland allowed us the time needed to conclude the book, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gladwell's premise is quite interesting: that success is often partly the result of unrecognized factors such as the month or year of one's birth or country of origin rather than the ones we most give credit to, such as brilliance and hard work. He's not saying that the more traditionally-attributed things aren't also important, but he builds a strong case for the fact that an individual's--or even a group's--success is frequently predicated on circumstances beyond his/her control, and often due to the efforts of others. From Canadian hockey players, to Jewish lawyers in NYC, to Chinese rice farmers, he demonstrates his theory in a compelling manner. It's a thought-provoking take on what it really means to be successful: both effort and luck in combination.