Book Report: Outliners
To know me is to know that I like Malcolm Galdwell. And you probably don't have to guess that it didn't take long for me to pick up his new book Outliners. Galdwell is know for mixing science, anecdote and profile into an interesting blend that I find engaging, readable and rememberable.Outliners starts with an examination of why the best hockey players in Canada are born during the first part of the year. This illustrates what Galdwell does best: revealing the hidden. Most all entertainment is seeing a hidden world--how many shows are truly about exposing inner workings of hospitals, police stations, law firms, etc. Galdwell's forte is exploring possible explanations for things we are familiar. His first book, The Tipping Point, posits a theory of why things catch on. Blink, Gladwell's second, examined the basis for everyday decisions. Outliner examines theories of success, that in the end, suggests timing and luck to be as an important parameter as talent, intelligence and practice.
Outliners is good, but not great. There are probably many things on Gladwell's New Yorker archive that I've liked better.
A personal takeaway is I'm probably more likely to ask, "what don't we know about what we know." Many time, things aren't as first they seem. I'll try to take time to discover alternate explanations, try to challenge the assumptions I'm likely to make, stay off the jump to conclusions map.
A personal takeaway is I'm probably more likely to ask, "what don't we know about what we know." Many time, things aren't as first they seem. I'll try to take time to discover alternate explanations, try to challenge the assumptions I'm likely to make, stay off the jump to conclusions map.
But I'm also left wondering, being born in January, did I squandered a professional hockey career?
posted by J.T. Campbell, Jr. @ 8:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home