The story of success book review
The story of success is a non-fiction book written by Malcolm Gladwell, which was published in November 2008. Gladwell in his book Outliers investigate the factors that contribute to success where he supports his Thesis by concrete and real-life evidence (Newell, 15). The book was appreciated by several reviewers on the questions it posed and how the book expressed how much an individual’s potential is ignored by society. Outliers by Gladwell was also criticized by some reviewers for using a style of writing that oversimplifies social phenomena. Gladwell uses a unique style of writing, fallacies, and real-life evidence to show how hard work and brains lead to individuals to success.
In his book Outliers, Gladwell uses evidence of several successful people to show how hard work and practice in every filed result to high skilled expertise (Cobb, 583). The book uses the evidence of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on how he achieved his extreme wealth. The author emphasizes that 10,000 hours of correct practice are necessary for the production of highly skilled professionals (Barke, 1078). Also, Gladwell uses an example of how the Beatles became one of the successful musical arts in history as evidence to support his ideas. Gladwell uses exceptional people especially those who are rich, smart or successful as an example to show how hard work is necessary for the achievement of personal success.
A simple style is used in the book to ensure that the readers easily understand the intentions of the author. Outliers is presented in two main sections, which includes an introduction and epilogue (Gladwell, 24). Part one of the book comprises of chapters 1 through 5 and its entitled “Opportunity.” Part two of the book includes chapter 6 through 9, and it is entitled “Legacy.” The main sections of the book reflect on the two main contributors to individual success. For anyone to become successful, personal hard work is key and also cultural practices by a community play an important role in ensuring that the members of the community become successful. In Outliers by Gladwell, the author starts every new chapter with a quotation, which is related to the content covered in that specific chapter. In the introduction part, Gladwell states his intentions for the book. Outliers is to an extent described as an autobiography because the other in some cases uses his personal life to give a personal touch.
In summary, Outliers uses evidence and employs a simple style of writing to provide a different view of success. The author argues that a person’s experience and opportunities are the most important factors that contribute to personal success. The author uses successful individuals as evidence that personal hard work is necessary for becoming successful. Also, the author argues that culture contributes to the success of individuals but lacks sufficient evidence in this matter and uses personal opinion to explain how culture contributes to the success of individuals. In Outliers, the style used gives the readers two books in one. On one part of the book, we have a collection of people who became successful because of their hard work while on the other part of the book the author outlines the role of culture on individual’s success.