Outlier – a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set. Ex. people whose achievements fall outside normal experience.

I’m not quite a fan of self-help books, and I don’t really know why. Perhaps because I haven’t really found the one that really inspired me. Although I do have a thing for Psychology books, especially the Feeling Good book by Dr. Burns. I’ve read countless self-help books in the past, but I always seem to just forget about them right after finishing the last page. Recently, I was wandering around at my local Barnes & Noble and I stumbled at the Psychology area when I found this minimalistic book by Malcolm Gladwell called the “Outliers”. I immediately read the back part and was truly intrigued by it. Then it dawned on me, a friend suggested this book to me before but I didn’t really pay that much attention, so, this time, I know I’ve got to read this book. I was so intrigued about knowing the people we consider Outliers, and the whole term is sort of news to me. So, I bought the book in Amazon since it’s cheaper there and I started reading it non-stop.

I wouldn’t call this a self-help book, it’s not really, but more like a non-fiction inspirational book about understanding the people we call as Outliers in this world. Most of our understanding of the path to success and about very successful people are defined by the misconception that you have to have an innate talent, or that you have to be hardworking. Truth is, in this book, talent and hardwork are indeed parts of success, but these two qualities are not enough. Yes, you have to work so hard and have a talent, but you also need to be born at the right circumstances. These circumstances are very important in achieving success and that is how we can understand that the Outliers of the world didn’t just start from scratch or came from nothing and then became very successful. Further, this book will answer why there are no star hockey players born in the Fall, or why the smartest man in the world is not necessarily the most successful in life.

This book is an eye-opener and will change the way you view life. It puts everything in perspective and will make you realize why such very successful people exist. The answer is pretty much right there, you just have to make sense of it. With that being said, it doesn’t mean that nobody can be successful, the book will tell you that if only we’d applied what we know of success in all its complexities and elements, then we’d have more Outliers in this world, and in that sense, there won’t be such thing as an Outlier at all.

I highly recommend this book, as well as some other books by Malcolm Gladwell. He’s definitely my favorite author now and I just like the way he writes and explains things. He is very keen on observing our society and its occurrences. So, for that, I’ve already started reading his other books like “The Tipping Point” and “Blink“. However, this Outlier book holds a special place in my heart. It’s a fascinating read that will inspire you to learn about people’s success stories and realize that success truly doesn’t happen overnight or from scratch, it’s a much more complicated event that happens when all the right circumstances and all the forces of nature combined to make a dream a reality.

The Outliers book by Malcolm Gladwell is currently available at http://www.amazon.com or at Audible as an audiobook.