Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t

I’ve been super excited for Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t”. The release date of November 18, 2008 was just announced on Amazon, as well they’ve got a product description up too:

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Here’s a list of writings and talks by and about Gladwell that cover genius/prodigy, education, and working:

• his talk Genius: 2012 from the 2007 New Yorker Conference
• The Risk Pool – What’s behind Ireland’s economic miracle—and G.M.’s financial crisis? (risk pool blog entry, and a followup post)
• The Myth of Prodigy and Why It Matters
• Getting In — The social logic of Ivy League admissions
• The Bakeoff — Project Delta aims to create the perfect cookie
• Brain Candy — Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?
• Gladwell’s personal work space
• Making the Grade
• The Talent Myth — Are smart people overrated?
• The Social Life of Paper — Looking for method in the mess
• Designs For Working — Why your bosses want to turn your new office into Greenwich Village
• The New-Boy Network — What do job interviews really tell us?