Malcom Gladwell’s “Outliers” Summary by Daniel Toro

Part 1 Gladwell argues that outliers are a result of factors other than individual abilities or phenomenal skill. He claims that these factors can be determined by analyzing data for patterns, such as the life expectancies of different town in Italy and their stress- free lifestyle.

Gladwell insists that success results when a single advantage paves the way to multiple other advantages, in a self replicating pattern. Accumulative advantage explains why sport players are better than others. More important than skill, is the resources available to develop the skills.

Part 2 Then he reminds us that preparation takes a bigger responsibility for success than “innate talents.” It takes a certain time for the brain to wire the circuits enough times and generate innate responses. This takes an estimated ten years of dedicated practice, regardless of skill.

Gladwell believes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve world-class expertise at some task. This translates into intensive practice for around 10 years. MozartBill Gates