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Gladwell writes when his mind returns to common themes

"If I were marooned on a desert island with just one other person, I would like it to be Malcolm Gladwell," my colleague said. I looked at her and smiled. "It's his mind," she said. "From the books he's written, I can just tell he's got one of those incredibly curious minds that propels him to look at things differently. We could talk and talk, and it would be fascinating," she mused.

Gladwell is the author of "Outliers: The Story of Success," now on most best-seller lists. It's his third book, his other titles being "The Tipping Point" in 2002 and "Blink" in 2005.

My colleague's comment is very perceptive. Here's what Gladwell himself said on his Web site about the genesis of his books: "I write books when I find myself returning again and again, in my mind, to the same themes. I wrote 'Tipping Point' because I was fascinated by the sudden drop in crime in New York City - and that fascination grew to an interest in the whole idea of epidemics and epidemic processes. I wrote 'Blink' because I began to get obsessed, in the same way, with the way that all of us seem to make up our minds about other people in an instant - without really doing any real thinking. In the case of 'Outliers,' the book grew out (of) a frustration I found myself having with the way we explain the careers of really successful people. You know how you hear someone say of Bill Gates or some rock star or some other outlier - 'they are really smart,' or 'they're really ambitious'? Well, I know lots of people who are really smart and really ambitious, and they aren't worth 60 billion dollars. It struck me that our understanding of success was really crude - and there was an opportunity to dig down and come up with a better set of explanations."

Besides having a lot of curiosity, Gladwell is an excellent storyteller and a terrific writer. His books are memorable because he illustrates his observations with people's stories told in a most compelling way.

For example, in "Outliers," Gladwell tells the story of Chris Langan, a man with an IQ of 195, but for whom success has been elusive. Langan was born into a poor and dysfunctional family. Many doors were shut in his face, and he was never able to complete an undergraduate degree. Being very smart was not enough.

Via Langan's story, Gladwell underscores points made in other chapters that success is a combination of background and culture, opportunity and luck, a willingness to work really hard, and expertise only gained after about 10,000 hours of practice.

"Outliers" turns the old Horatio Alger formula of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination and concern for others on its head. Yes, all those things are important, but there are other factors, too. Chief among them is the fact that none of us are successful or unsuccessful on our own. We're all products of our family and our culture and our timing on this earth.

I recommend "Outliers" to you as a really interesting book. You'll learn fascinating things about Bill Gates, the Beatles and why all successful Canadian hockey players are born in January, February, or March.

Outliers is Gladwell's most personal book to date. He applies his principles of success to his own life. As a bonus, if you listen to the audio book version, you'll be treated to a special conversation with the author.

I think my colleague is right: Malcolm Gladwell would be a great companion on a desert island.

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