TOW #20 Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

            The Oxford American Dictionary defines an “outlier” as something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body. In other words, an outlier is something that is different from the masses, an exception to what is considered normal. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, sets out to analyze and explain one specific type of outlier in this book: the success story. The common perception of extremely successful people is that they have achieved their success through personal determination and merit. Highly respected author Gladwell sets out to disprove this belief in Outliers through showing the array of favorable circumstances and lucky opportunities that have allowed some of the most successful people of our time to reach their position. Gladwell makes it abundantly clear through each success story and subsequent breakdown of events, that success owes much more to environment, circumstance, and opportunity than it does to personal grit or ambition. The ultimate message that the reader can take away from Gladwell’s analysis of success is that it can be extremely beneficial and enlightening to look further into certain inevitable trends of humanity that most people take for granted, such as the reasons why there are always some people that blossom into great success stories while others of similar ability are doomed to remain average. 

            Gladwell’s consistent arrangement throughout this book is every effective in tying together his message on success and human behavior. First, he presents the reader with a seemingly perfect story of success (examples from the book so far include the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Bill Joy). He then backtracks and breaks the story down from the very beginning, pointing out every avenue where environment or coincidence played an enormous role in the person’s eventual success. This arrangement is continuous throughout each chapter and different success story. This is highly effective in that it shows the consistency of the way that success is NOT based primarily on individual merit or intelligence. Gladwell’s dissection of success stories using this organized arrangement shows that success, an innate human trend, is based largely on the factors that are out of a person’s control.