Yesterday I finished Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. It was pretty much what I expected: short, readable stories all on the theme of success. Gladwell made a good case that the traditional narrative of success was flawed, but I would have loved it if he had dug deeper into the subject. To me, Outliers read like an extended TED talk – fascinating and entertaining, but short on meaningful ideas.
Don’t take that to mean it wasn’t a good book – it was. It’s enjoyable and it raised questions that I’ve never really thought about before. Gladwell is a good writer and a great storyteller, and I’m sure that this book accomplished everything he aimed for. I just wish he had aimed a little higher. A little more analysis, a slightly stronger argument – I think Gladwell is on to some cool ideas and I wish he had the guts to keep pushing. He grabbed my attention with his stories about how individual success occurs at the junction of good luck, good timing, good upbringing, and a lot of hard work. Imagine how much more he could have done in another hundred pages.