Saturday, July 31, 2010

Book Reviews for Thinkers: Malcolm Gladwell "Outliers"

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers


I am a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell and, even if you don't read books too often, I strongly suggest that you read Malcolm Gladwell.


It will put you well ahead of your peers in understanding, perhaps not the nuts and bolts of marketing, but philosophy and great insights to how things work and why some things become popular in our society today.


Gladwell became hugely popular with the books, The Tipping Point and Blink.


The Tipping Point explains why things run as under-currents for so long and then, suddenly, burst out into mass popularity. His theory is best explained as a comparison to the common cold or influenza. In the case of influenza, the disease is in all of our bodies at all times, but what causes it to suddenly explode and to become pandemic only to subside quietly later on just as quickly as it arrived? Gladwell explains that perfectly and in an incredibly interesting writing style that will have the reader enthralled the entire book.


In Blink, Gladwell explains how we can judge something within a split second and do... It's just that, as a result of living in modern society, we depress our instinctive feelings and use our brains more... Sometimes with bad results...


Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell


Say, late at night, a woman enters a dark building and goes to the elevator. She stands there and then a man comes to stand next to her. She instinctively feels that something is wrong; there is some danger. Yet she rationalizes that she is just being paranoid. She enters the elevator with the man and then, in the elevator, she is robbed or worse.


Compared with the fawn in a field. A fawn senses danger and then does not hesitate to think, the fawn is off on a dash to run away.


Had the woman trusted her instinctive feelings that nature gave her, she wouldn't have had the unfortunate incident happen to her. That is the lessons of Blink; that we can judge anything, a person, a book, a movie, music, whatever within a second or two.


I think this is absolutely true. After working in music and entertainment for over 30 years, I can judge within 2 seconds if some music I hear is "good" or not (meaning something that I would like).


Malcolm Gladwell's newest book Outliers "The Story of Success" is another winner. This time he explains about what it takes to be a world class professional. It doesn't matter whether we are considering   professional hockey players, musicians, concert pianists, soccer players or Biochemical engineers... Gladwell has unlocked the mystery as to what makes one person a Nobel Peace Prize candidate and ones that were also-ran...


I highly recommend this book for everyone especially parents with small children. After reading Outliers, you may see why some kids excel and others are just "like all the others" and how much you really do have to say about your child's future.


I think the results will astound you.


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Keywords: Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, Tipping Point, Blink, Nobel Peace Prize, kids, children, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers


  

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