Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

“In statistics, an outlier is an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data.”
- Wikipedia
“…in men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.”
- Gladwell

I have been fascinated by the idea of success for most of my adult life. It was actually the people telling me that I was not successful enough that made me even think about it even more. Having the mental capacity to be a doctor or a lawyer has been somewhat of a sentence in some of my families eyes, because by me not becoming one I became a “what could have John accomplished…”

It is obvious for some people that money, status and career are their indicators of success. I personally think of success in other terms. I find success in the people that surround me, the people that I share my life and memories with. That was one of the most fascinating things about reading the book Outliers, that Gladwell opened up with the case study of a whole town that was an outlier, a place where people were actually dieing of simply old age. You can actually read this chapter in the New York times, if you enjoy it pick up the book, it is an excellent and easy read.

Like everything that I have read from Gladwell, you have to make your own observations and conclusions. He gives you the information that he has found about a subject and almost like a great teacher, encourages you take away from it what you want. Besides the strongest messages of equality and opportunity that will breed success in our next generation, the book made me look at my own success a little closer.

While he does not take merit away from the very successful people he takes a look in his book, he does point out that a lot of it has to do with being in the right place at the right time. Also perseverance being a very important component to success.

There was actually a chapter that mentions Colombians and culture quite a bit. It was interesting to learn how much your culture affects you in subconscious ways. It also made me see that I have a very mixed culture by growing up both in the U.S and Colombia. Every time I read one of Gladwell’s books I come out very interested in psychology.

The book really did not change my way of gauging success, but it did bring some insight into why some people obtain it and why some don’t. I like the fact that he is very clear about intelligence and its effect of people. Most people would assume that a super high IQ is a sure way to success; however, like I have always believed, almost everyone is capable of learning. It just takes wanting to use that intellect to really accomplish things in life that in the end will make you successful.

One of the most surprising things I heard during a medical interpreting seminar I attended was how young internal medical science really is. Until not too long ago, a hospital was somewhere you went to die. We all like to think of computers being the field that has changed the most thanks to the microchip, but science as a whole has moved forward quite a bit. So we “know” a lot more than what we did 100 years ago, well some people do.

I recently started reading a book called “Welcome To Your Brain.” I have been amazed at the wealth of information that has been presented in such a simple format. It also has killed many myths that I myself use to believe. The format reminds me of the dummy books, but it is actually a lot more in depth about what is talking about than those. It has also been nice to read that some of the things I thought about were correct, well at least correct from a neurosurgeon’s point of view.

The first myth that was blown out of the water was the “We only use a small % of our brain.” I used to think that there was some unlocked potential there, and while it does seem that some people do turn off logic sometimes, most people use 100% of their brains. You can read about six other myths here and the book goes into great detail about how the myths came about, and what the science behind it is.

The book has a blog, and a lot of the topics in the book have been discussed. Some of the coolest things I have learned (or reaffirmed) after reading the book are the following.

Drinking does not kill brain cells.
Will power improves as we accomplish things, even small ones.
We react before we think. (I learned this from Blink)
Homosexuality has a very strong neurological component to it.
We retrieve memories, erase them and then record them again.
You cannot tickle yourself.
Woman have a disadvantage when it comes to math.
Video games improve brain function.
Love is a drug.

I recommend you read this book. Even if you just go to specific chapters, it is really a good resource for information.

Related Links
Will Power
50 Myths and Truths (in Spanish)
10 Amazing Facts about your brain.

After reading this book I felt like Malcolm Gladwell was someone that I wanted as a friend. He a talented and best selling author(he also wrote The Tipping Point,) but when he writes he has a conversation with the reader that is spoken in a tone that most people reserve for their best friends. The message of the book is in a way about tolerance and introspection, but the book gave me so much more.

I just turned 30 and self evaluation has kicked into high gear. Event though my birthday has never felt quite like a milestone, this one did and it was partially because of this book. The books title talks about the power of thinking without thinking. In simple terms it tries to let you know that you have a key to your unconscious, but it is not the one that will let you open it.

After reading this book I feel I understand the way I make decisions a little better, but more importantly, I learned that my decisions are being affected by what surrounds me more than I ever even imagined. I then decided that what I was doing for my brain was simply not enough. To put it in computer terms, I have a very powerful machine, but I was just leaving my connection to the internet at dial up speed.

We can all let ourselves be manipulated by what advertisers or media outlets want us to believe about the world or we can go one step further and learn to think for ourselves. Knowledge is power only if it used. One of the biggest problems I have with formal education is that it is almost set up to make you pass tests rather than to actually learn something. After reading blink, you start to see the purpose of gathering knowledge. From being able to read minds to eliminating racism or sexism in some situations. This book gives us the opportunity to look at life in a different way. What if we could literally steer history in a different way by refusing to accept the negative imagery that is presented to us in a regular basis?

The book is powerful because it does not hold our hand by giving us a quick guide as to how to make quicker decisions. Rather it opens up the door for us to make our life and mind better by filling it with better information. The reasons some of the experts on his book are as good as they are is because they took an active interest in a subject and became truly amazing at it. While we might not be able to do it at the scale that some of those scholars did, we can take steps towards being more mindful of all the clues that are out there for us.

While it might have been that I read the book in the weeks before my birthday, I still think there is a lot of merit for the authors ability to make me think. His message is simple while covering very complex subjects. It lets us take a peek into how truly extraordinary people make decisions even when they do not even know themselves.

One simple lesson that you can take with you is that vocabulary is important in any subject. It is probably one of the places most of us get really hung up on. While we might have an opinion about something, not having the correct way to express it can leave us with a simple yes or no answer. If you think about relationships and feelings, being able to voice them is very important, but what if we cannot explain what we are feeling? There are plenty of books out there that can give you the vocabulary you need to vocalize what you feel. When we put a puzzle together we use the picture of what it is supposed to look like to find the right pieces. So if you are particularly stuck with something in your life, it might be a good idea to pick up a good book and find the picture that will help you put that puzzle together.

I just finished reading Next by Michael Crichton. He is one of my favorite authors, but this book really left a lot to be desired. While I do have to say that I read the book pretty fast and I wanted to keep going, I think it was mostly to see if he could untangle the mess he had created.

The first issue I encountered is that I could not keep the characters straight. Initially I thought it was because he was introducing to many, then later I realized that, while all of the mini stories were connected, they did not flow. I ended up not caring for any character in particular, there was no real hero, no real victim, no real redemption, no main story.

The book tries to bring genetics to the forefront of our mind, but it does so in a very disjointed way. I don’t feel like he was thinking of the reader when he wrote the book, or at least not the average reader. One of the things I have always loved about Crichton is that he makes science seem easy, but in this book we feel very removed from he actual science, catching only glimpses of it. If genetics was to be the main character of the book, it was an elusive character that never quite came to the forefront of the story.

I blame Google for the spastic nature of the book. Imagine someone doing a search on Google about genetics and then trying to fit every link that came back in the first page into a book.

I do not recommend this book, but if you want to read Crichton start with Timeline or Airframe; both are way better written. I am sad to say that this book ended up being an spaghetti bowl that I expected to find meatballs inside of, I searched and searched and in the end I ended up with a bunch of noodles that filled me up, but I did not really enjoy.

I started reading Harry Potter sometime in 1999. Once I had picked up the series I started to wait for the books to be released. Prisoner of Azkaban was always my favorite and I almost stop reading the series after Order of the Phoenix came out. I had become very attached to the characters and seeing die such an early death in the series felt like I was being cheated.

The third time I read the Order of the phoenix I had already read the Half Blood Price and the story seemed to be a little better. The book made a little more sense and the death was something that I was able to deal with. It was almost destiny that every single father figure Harry ever had was destined to leave the series in one way or another.

I am not going to spoil book seven for you, so don’t be scared to read if you have not finished. I will even go as far as saying that this book stands on its own. It is a great read even if you did not read the whole series. I am also glad to say that Rowling puts the whole Snape is good or bad controversy to rest.

Come to think of it, the gift that she has is that she did an excellent job at closing all the circles she opened through the story. I think re-reading the whole series now that I know everything that happens will only make me cherish the build up even more. She created a world that while not completely out of her imagination, she does borrow from mythology and other great authors, it is her own interpretation of what a magical world should be. It is fresh and very unique, it has its own rules.

I remember the whole controversy over the book corrupting people because it was about evil and witchcraft. I know think back and see that the same message that the new testament tries to give all of us, that it all comes down to love, its the same in Harry Potter.

If you have only followed the movies, I assure you, you are missing out. The books paint a picture that the movies can only reproduce like a masterpiece made into a stamp. Every book in the series tells a tale that when put together makes a lot of sense. It is not just a story about grief, sacrifice, responsibility and courage, but also friendship, family and love.

I am glad that the series ended now that I read the last book. I was a little skeptic as to how so much build up could end in just seven hundred and some pages. It did, it satisfied my craving and made me part of the generation that read Harry Potter when it first came out.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling. Series, Snape, Dumbledore, 7.

The book explores humanity in a way I have not seen in many books. It uses situations to not only illustrate characters personalities but also mirror them. I am also sure that this book like great songs can have different meaning to different people.

I believe that change is the center theme of the book. The characters transform their inner core value and ways of looking at the world. At times these aspect of the book seems more fictional that the actual genetic manipulation plot. It is scary at times to even consider that our lives are not being life to the fullest and that there is no one else to blame but ourselves.

The love story in the book is not only beautiful but also patient. In a time where dating seems like a romanticized idea from long ago, it makes courtship seem appealing once again. In the time of hook ups and my space it brings a nice to the word relationship.

Another impressive facet of the book is the strong African American character in the book. I was very please with the way his character was explored. It was amazing how accurate the sense of almost innate desperation to prove yourself because of the color or your skin was portrayed. I was also glad that everyone in the end realized that family in the end is the most important thing in life.

Koontz explored God in this book in a subtle way. It was more of a theological discussion about human responsibility than an actual religions statement. It is probably the only thing in the book that kind of let me wanting a little more. I personally believe that responsibility when it comes to research should be looked at from many angles. There is no clear answer to all the moral and ethical questions that genetic research raises.

The characters were all very likeable, the flow of the book was excellent, and I believe that everyone can take a little piece of self-improvement from the change in all of the characters. I believe everyone should read this book, just be warned that by the end of it you might want a brand new puppy.

Koontz, Watchers, Review, Loyalty, Friendship, Relationship, Love, Race, Murder, Suspense, Change, Fiction.

Being driven by fear is one of the problems with our society. I believe that while terrorism is a real threat we are at times misguided while our judgment is clouded by fear. The book also brought some excellent points about scientific research and corporate involvement. I have always loved the way Crichton has been able to make very complicated subjects accessible to reader.

The book mixes a lot of fact with fiction, and at the end of the book the author states his view on the climate change issue. While the book is more of a thriller than a political book, it still makes you think about how much of what we see on the news is actually corporate driven.

While this book is not new, it really resonated with me since we have been seeing on the news a lot of the scandals in Washington. The fiction of how politics and environmental law at times had nothing to do with preserving the environment resonates a lot more on the Abramoff era.

The characters on the book were likeable, and even though the love triangle that formed did not take the twists and turns that I predicted it still entertained. The book was not as predictable as I imagined it would be while reading it, but it still had a couple of things that I figured out early. The book would make an excellent movie like some of Crichton’s books have done in the past… I just hope if they do make it, it is more along the lines of Jurassic park and not Congo or Timeline.

Fear, Crichton, Terrorism, Warming, Abramoff, Congo, Timeline, State

The book has an excellent story full of magic and mystery. In its short length it manages to develop a full story that unravels at just the correct pace except for the end that felt a little rushed. I felt the last chapter felt a little too much like the movies that hint to a sequel. Somehow the Harry Potter series has managed to do that in a way that I don’t feel bad about.

The story definitely had a very Christian undertone and almost a parable like feel to it. The themes throughout the story developed each character in such a way that they change to become something a lot better. Also I was surprised that it was not presented as they simply grew up, but that they actually changed traits in their personalities.

Without giving much away, there are many things that Lewis borrows directly from religion. The thought of redemption, forgiveness and doing things for the greater good is shown throughout the book. The sense of adventure is present enough to make you want to get to the next chapter.

I was also very interested in the sense of different magic, and the notion of almost the power of God being portrayed as very ancient powerful magic. There is a sense of right and wrong, and good and evil but they surprisingly coexist in an almost yin and yan balance. Nothings lasts forever, and I am very interested in reading the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia. I give this book full stars and think that you should check it out. It could be a fun library afternoon for sure.

Lion, Potter, Witch, Wardrobe, Book, Lewis, Christian, Magic

Family is one of the most important things in my life. I cannot imagine growing up without my parents and still being able to experience love the way Harry experiences it. He has had to deal with a lot up to this book and HP&HBP gave him even more to deal with. I did expect him to completely give up hope, but instead he is now a man on a mission.

The book followed the Potter formula of recounting a life in a school year of the kids. As the series progresses there are more and more details being revealed about Voldemort and where he came from, this book was dubbed the Lilly Potter book, but I believe that we learned a lot more about Voldemort. It was not because it was all new information but because it all started to get tied together making a chronological recount of how he-who-must-not-be-named became what he is now.

I have never read a book that can talk about so much magic and incredible things yet carrying a very palpable message, love is the most powerful magic of all. This message makes me even more proud to read a series that a lot of adults might dismiss as kids books.

If you have not read the Harry Potter series, I think it is time you do… if book 5 left you a little empty and feeling like the rest of the series had no meaning anymore, forget about that and read book 6.

***Spoilers*** (Do not read beyond if you have not read all the books including 6)

Very early on I knew who the Half Blood Prince was. Even after the author tried to steer our thought away from the people in James year or time period I still had a very strong suspicion. Maybe because early on it seemed to be Snapes book, maybe because I have never liked him or trusted him. I did like the fact that it was ilustrated in more depth that Snape is a powerful wizard and very intelligent. I still hold a little bit of hope in the fact that he might redeem all of his actions at some point by helping Harry as he has done throught the book. I feel very sorry for Malfoy, a character that up until this book I have loathed, like Dumbledore I feel like he deserves a chance. I think Malfoy could be a great ally, at the same time he could make the ultimate nemesis but what else would we have Voldi for.

It is still somewhat unfair that we have to wait for more than a year to read the end of the series, but I guess we do have the next movie to kind of hold our Potter Mania going until then. I have no idea about how the next book is going to end and I really do not want to speculate. I am just as intrigued by everyone else to find out how Rowling will come to the last book in the series having Scar for its last word.

HarryPotter, Potter, Rowling, Prince,Book, HalfBlood, Muggles, Magic

I am not saying that it was a not good book. I did enjoy it and finished it rather quickly, but it was mostly by that urge to prove to myself that I had already guessed what was supposed to happen.

The book had a couple of big redeeming qualities that I really liked. One was demonizing the media and more specifically television as an evil that is damaging the world. A paragraph from the book summarized it best by pointing out that TV makes our life seem without excitement, almost boring, the solution to the problem is just simply turning the TV off.

The second redeeming quality was that the main character was a strong woman that in the end defeated a man that had considered her not smart enough to spoil his plans. At the same time I am not sure that a woman would be impressed by the authors point of view on describing a strong woman.

I would not recommend this book if you have an extensive list already waiting for you, if you are interested on opening a little window into how the airframe manufacturing industry might work and really dislike what TV news has done to information flow, give it a try.

(*) Don’t bother even reading the synopsis
(**) If you want to kill some time
(***) Great reading for a long trip
(****) Must Read

The book is very similar to the other Dan Brown titles in style, and I was able to concentrate on the story rather than on all the techno-babble that was in the book. Most of the topics discussed were really not that foreign to me because of my familiarity with cryptography, encryption and computer stuff. Brown did fall a little short in the build up of his main bad guy. Both the Code and Angels had scary bad guys, that kind of made your skin crawl when they were near their targets, the guy in this book did not really transmit that feeling at all.

Overall it was a very engaging book that I loved due to the love story that played inside. I am sure conspiracy theory buffs will eat this one up, because we all know Big Brother is watching… for now I just go by saying that my love for Cielo is without wax!

Logtar’s book rating

(*) Don’t bother even reading the synopsis
(**) If you want to kill some time
(***) Great reading for a long trip
(****) Must Read

A young woman staying as a guest in a Napa Valley farmhouse becomes trapped in a fight for survival with a self-proclaimed “homicidal adventurer”, and races to warn his next intended victim. Unrelentingly terrifying, this book lives up to its name.

Intensity is a fast paced book that does character points of view beautifully. You feel the fear and urgency of the victims, and when it switches point of view to the other side you can experience the intensity of the villain. At first the book seemed dark, very dark with little hope. As the story unfolds hope is dangled in front of you as a carrot that seems unreachable.

I recommend reading this book while I do advise those of weak stomach to proceed with caution. There are very graphic instances where you might have to read carefully or end up giving your dinner to the toilet. To find out if evil wins the battle in the end you will have to turn the pages. Some might think that letting the bad guys win is a bad thing, but don’t we live in the real world?

Happy reading.

Logtar’s book rating

(*) Don’t bother even reading the synopsis
(**) If you want to kill some time
(***) Great reading for a long trip
(****) Must Read

The student teacher interaction was the first thing that made me want to read the book, but then the facing death part of it really captivated my attention. I am affraid of getting old, death is not really my biggest fear but more like not being able to take care of myself later in life. This books really helps you deal with those thoughts in very blunt way.

Morrie a sociology teacher who is a wealth of applied knowledge. He has a way of being able to show you with his words simple things that are in front of you but you do not quite see. I think you will be way better of reading the book than me trying to say how wonderful it is. There is also a movie about the book which I have at home but have not watched. I will be doing that really soon. The movie is supposed to be very close to the book and I would like to see if that is really true.

Another cool thing about the Author is that he has his own radio show in Detroit as well as a column in the Detroit Free Press, who would have tought that a sports writter that did not set to be writter in the first place could compile a book that has jumped into my top 5 list.

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The character of Robert Langdon is just extremely multifaceted. It has the characteristics or almost an anti-hero mixed with victim and hey he seems to… well do not want to really reveal too much. The book discusses the topic of science vs religion quite a bit, but makes a wonderful case as to why they really do not have to be at war, but could complement each other.

I would urge you to go and purchase this book asap. If you enjoyed watching any of the Indiana Jones movies, this book will appeal to you for sure.

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The DaVinci Code is a book that was recomended by a coworker, besides I had been hearing a lot about the book in the news and such so it was a book I really wanted to read.

At first I was somewhat taken back by the subject, should I be offended as a Catholic or a Christian? but then I thought, my whole life I have liked things that are thought provoking. Also I needed to remember that even thought there are tons of factual things on the book it is still just fiction.

I do have to say that by the end I loved the book, It is not only a very good read but it also has a lot of message within it. I say pick it up, read it and let me know what your take on it is.