Outliers: The Story Of Success

Higher achievers: how are they different? Malcolm Gladwell writes Outliers: The Story of Success. He takes the reader on a journey through the world of the most successful. Throughout the book he maintains a substantial question: what makes high achievers different? Gladwell does a fascinating job of answering that question and inspiring the reader to have a different perspective. Gladwell is the author of this book. He tells the story through a series of events and interesting facts. He is the speaker; the subject of the book is connected to him. The subject which is about being a higher achiever is told ultimately through Gladwell. He often shifts between first and third person throughout the book but it is to make the subject more interesting.

Gladwell goes in depth on exactly what it is like to be in the higher society. He states, “In Outliers, I want to convince you that these kinds of personal explanations of success don’t work. People don’t rise from nothing” (Gladwell 19). This quote is suggesting that it takes more than just personal perseverance to become successful. Gladwell wants the audience to know that something does not come out of nothing. For example, hard work while only having a moderate level of intelligence can ultimately be better than having an extremely high I.Q and no hard

Gladwell builds this argument as he closely examines a man or a woman and their success. While he is able to examine people, culture, is a huge negative effect for some. He tells stories of people and how they were able to achieve success, but also talks about those who weren’t so lucky. Gladwell tells the story of Bill Joy. He is a famous computer scientist. Gladwell suggests that Joy did not get to his success just on mere talent. The fact that a lot of successful people don’t just get somewhere because of luck or just talent is consistent among the book. On the other hand, Gladwell also mentions that where someone is from can have an underlying effect on their successes in life. Chris Langan had a rough home life. He was poor, and his family was barely able to make ends meet. Ultimately, Langan did not have a very successful life regardless of him being smart. The argument being is that some thrive for more reasons than just being smart or having talent, and others fail regardless of being smart. Outliers is about success and what it takes to get there. It is about how people in the higher society differ from every citizen. The book is about empowerment and hard work. Success is a result of time, heritage, and influence. Gladwell was able to combine all of that into one book. In chapter one he states, “This is a book about outliers, about men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary”