Outliers : the story of success /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: The Roseto mystery -- Opportunity. The Matthew effect (Matthew 25:29) -- The 10,000-hour rule -- The trouble with geniuses -- The three lessons of Joe Flom -- Legacy. Harlan, Kentucky -- The ethnic theory of plane crashes -- Rice paddies and math tests -- Marita's bargain -- A Jamaican story -- Notes -- Acknowledgements -- Index -- Reading Group Guide -- Experts from Talking to Strangers.

In understanding successful people, we have come to focus far too much on their intelligence and ambition and personality traits. In- stead, Malcolm Gladwell argues in Outliers, we should look at the world that surrounds the successful their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way, Gladwell reveals what the Beatles und Bill Gates have in common, the reason you've never heard of the smartest man in the world, why almost no star hockey players are born in the fall, and why, when it comes to plane crashes, where the pilots are born matters as much as how well they are trained. -- provided by publisher.