~ By Malcolm Gladwell
Fantastic read. In spite of the recommendations and rave reviews, had not had a chance to pick it up until recently. The minute I started reading, I was hooked. Brilliant writer, amazing use of examples to illustrate the core point of the book, and high enough interest level maintained throughout to make you not want to put down the book at all. Quite a feat. The book attempts to outline the 'story' of success - how successful people got to where they are, and that there's a hell of a lot more to success than the individual's achievements.
I have to admit, after the rather incredible first example on the Canadian hockey players, I was tending towards slight skepticism when I started reading the examples of Bill Joy and Bill Gates. I thought the data was being presented in too arranged a manner. Errr, I do data analysis for a living, and I know only too well how any argument can be data driven, OR, it can be entirely hypothesis driven, and one can always find some data or the other to support that hypothesis. :-). Worse, in many cases, one can twist and turn the data to make it support the hypothesis. Oh, how well I know this. I see it every day.
However, Gladwell is impossible to argue with. And really, the point he's making throughout the book is obvious if you think about it. The framework of his argument is flawless if you think about it. The problem is that we rarely think about it in that way. And he's so masterfully explained the examples with compelling data points, that its really difficult to poke holes in his theory. Big ones, at least. And I tried, for the fun of it. :-)
I was told every parent should read this book. I'm glad I did. It's true! Every parent should read this book. And I love Gladwell's writing style. It is simple, honest, and seems to come straight from the heart.
Amazing book. Gotta pick up his The Tipping Point and Blink next.
Fantastic read. In spite of the recommendations and rave reviews, had not had a chance to pick it up until recently. The minute I started reading, I was hooked. Brilliant writer, amazing use of examples to illustrate the core point of the book, and high enough interest level maintained throughout to make you not want to put down the book at all. Quite a feat. The book attempts to outline the 'story' of success - how successful people got to where they are, and that there's a hell of a lot more to success than the individual's achievements.
I have to admit, after the rather incredible first example on the Canadian hockey players, I was tending towards slight skepticism when I started reading the examples of Bill Joy and Bill Gates. I thought the data was being presented in too arranged a manner. Errr, I do data analysis for a living, and I know only too well how any argument can be data driven, OR, it can be entirely hypothesis driven, and one can always find some data or the other to support that hypothesis. :-). Worse, in many cases, one can twist and turn the data to make it support the hypothesis. Oh, how well I know this. I see it every day.
However, Gladwell is impossible to argue with. And really, the point he's making throughout the book is obvious if you think about it. The framework of his argument is flawless if you think about it. The problem is that we rarely think about it in that way. And he's so masterfully explained the examples with compelling data points, that its really difficult to poke holes in his theory. Big ones, at least. And I tried, for the fun of it. :-)
I was told every parent should read this book. I'm glad I did. It's true! Every parent should read this book. And I love Gladwell's writing style. It is simple, honest, and seems to come straight from the heart.
Amazing book. Gotta pick up his The Tipping Point and Blink next.
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