Librarian Tim recommends Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

This books looks at why people succeed - but it is not some sort of cheerleading self help book, Gladwell's research is all about connections. Connections and circumstances, like if you take two people with genius IQ's, why is it that one may become a Nobel Prize winning scientist while the other never finishes college? Researching the cultural differences that lead to airplane crashes and success in math and science take his theories to an extreme, but make for fascinating thought experiments - although testing them empirically may be a little more difficult. He draws on a lot of cutting edge social science research to develop his theories of success due to parental upbringing or cultural history and they make for interesting reading, if you are willing to look past the fact that most of his theories are based on evidence that is purely circumstantial. Food for thought and great fodder for book discussions.

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