Outliers!

My new book, "Outliers: The Story of Success," is coming out on Tuesday, after long last.  I'm very happy with it, and I think anyone who liked Tipping Point or Blink will like this book too.  I'll be blogging more about it, in the near future.  In the meantime, there is a short Q and A describing the themes of Outliers from my website, here. And you can buy it here.

I also wanted to announce two of the dates on my book tour.

For those of you in England, I'll be giving two shows at the Lyceum Theater in Soho on Monday November 24th. The times are 5:45 and 8:30. Tickets are available here.  There are still some good ones left, but they are going fast, I'm told.

For those of you in Canada, on Monday December 1st, at 5:00, I'll be at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto, for a conversation with Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Business.  Roger is, I think, one of the finest minds in the business world. This should be fun. Tickets are available here.

Comments

[Tyler]

Will you be visiting Boston on the book tour?

[Daria]

Fabulous! What could have been more appropriate as a present, for such a Gladwell-addict as I am?
I can`t wait for the book to be in stores.
Hopefully I`ll also be on the 24th in Soho. Until then, just keep blogging about the book, I`m watching you :)

[Robert]

Hi Malcolm.

I read your book last week, as its already out here in the Netherlands. I couldn't put it down, though I have to say the subject matter in Outliers was slightly less surprising or unfamiliar than Blink and Tipping point. I think the most important message of the book was not so much the Outliers, and the circumstances that made them that, but the theme of the second half of the book: the importance of cultural heritage. The last chapter in the book was definitely the most heart warming, the history of your mother.

[Jason Valendy]

Very excited about the book. I will be putting my usual reading (the bible) on hold:)

Thanks for the work you do, it provides me much to implement in the local church I am involved with.

[Ilene Sutter]

At the risk of sounding like a slobbering fan, I'm going to heap a little praise:

Nice piece in Time this week -- I just got it, and the photographer did a great job with your portrait.

I loved your New Yorker pieces on late bloomers and "the uses of adversity," a promising taste of what's to come. Off to Amazon to order up the new book!

[Ilene Sutter]

Okay, I wandered off and read some of the very adept comments written by your other blog readers about the abovementioned articles and realized: I am a slobbering fan. Too late!

[Preetham Venky]

Slobbering fan or not, I must say I am probably the only Indian (yup! the citizen bordering those chinese) who looks forward to every piece of literary genius being spilled from your digital keys. I just hope I get it as quickly here in Bangalore - heritage or not :)

[Torley]

Malcolm, I enjoyed your first two books tremendously and look forward to this one with much zeal.

While I haven't read Outliers yet, it seems like some of the subject matter has previouslky gone undiscussed because of how awkward it can be to bring up cultural influences that all-too-easily bleed into stereotypes.

[Cynthia Ellis]

I am experiencing severe "Gladwell-Envy" that Outliers is in the Netherlands first.

I will attempt to contain myself. :-)

Your article on late-bloomers was so inspirational to so many. I got home and my lap-top had exploded.

Will your tour include NY/LA?

[Åsa Stenström]

Ah well I bought Outliers i Stockholm a week ago :-)
I read more than half at once, but then I had to do other things...

[Patrick Gruban]

I got it in Germany on Nov 4th and couldn't put it down after I started. Great ideas and fascinating portraits!

[peter]

Yesterday's UK Guardian newspaper carried an excerpt from your book, in which you talk about the hours spent by the Beatles playing dives together in Hamburg. Further to your argument: both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, before they even met each other, had each spent thousands of hours listening, studying, playing and learning The Great American Song Book. Because of Liverpool's direct maritime connections with the USA, they had access to American records and sheet music earlier than other people in Britain at the time (pre-1960).

[Cory Cooperman]

I just finished reading the except from your upcoming book, Outliers, posted on The Guardian's Web site at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/malcolm-gladwell-outliers-extract.

I can't help but notice a mistake that must have slipped by your editor/fact-checker. Daniel Levitin, a professor I have studied with at McGil University, is not a neurologist. He is a neuroscientist. More accurately, he is a cognitive neuroscientist. I suspect it's too late to change for this edition, but you should have someone attend to this in the future.

I also wanted to wish you congratulations on the book release. Having studied expertise in Dr. Levitin's class, I look forward to reading your take on it.

[Christian Parkes]

Outliers is out in Japan already too. I was shocked to find it on the shelves and snatched it up right away. Spent the whole day in Tokyo coffee shops reading it. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.

Was especially glad to learn that my son (who's in the first grade here) may get an added advantage of learning math in Japanese!

Any plans to speak in Tokyo?

Thanks for another though provoking book!

xp

[Ovidia]

I just finished reading Outliers (bought it this morning & took day off) & want to say 'Thank You Thank You Thank You'. I am sure different people will get different things from your book but what struck me most immediately & forcefully are:

1) Permission to work. It's okay to be 'obsessive' about what I love doing. (When I received an international award I felt like a con artist because I believed such things were for 'talent' & only got it because they did not realise how much time I had put in)
2) Presentation (From air crash section) In certain situations/roles, the best thing to do is to jump over your natural/cultural patterns & say what needs to be said. That's why I'm writing to say thanks, something I wouldn't normally/previously do.

3)Thanks for mentioning Singapore! The attitude/approach you mention describes us here very well. We call it being 'kiasu'.

[Ivan Martins]

Hi Mr Galdwell,

I am a journalist from Brazil trying to get in touch with you. I have to write a cover story on your new book. This week. Can I send you some questions or -- even better =-- can we talk by phone? tks lot,

Ivan

[Matt W.]

Congratulations! Can't wait to read it.
My copies of your first two books are currently being read by two of my professors, I had to spread the knowledge. I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing with Outliers... Mr. Gladwell, you're the man. And now you get to update your bio to read, "the author of three books"!

[irwjc]

Congrats on the new book! I can't wait to dive into it--I'm a dedicated fan of your work and want to thank you for your unique perspective and insight into the minds of consumers. You've helped me many of times in my career! Thanks!--Jen

[Patrick McHugh]

Malcolm, a friend said she heard you interviewed on Public Radio this weekend about Outliers. I think it might have been on BBC America and am looking for the link. Do you think you could point me in the right direction? Apparently it was a terrific interview. I am sure others would like to hear it.

[SandyJ]

I started with "Outliers" 15 days ago and I LOVE it. It's as fantastic, interesting and readable as your previous books. I've already recommended it to an acquaintance who is in the Talent business.
I've read Blink & Tipping Point, and guess what I loved them, too. So it was a real no brainer to buy your book the second I learned about it.
Please keep writing.
Cheers from Germany

[Earl H. Kinmonth]

In a FORTUNE interview you are quoted as saying, "We give kids from around the world the same set of math tests, and every time we get the same results: America is just below average, and then at the very, very top are Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. It occurs again and again."

Have you actually looked at recent international tests of math achievement? For example, in the 2003 PISA series sponsored by the OECD Finland, The Netherlands, and Lichtenstein accounted for three of the top five.

Last I heard, Finland, the Netherlands, and Lichtenstein were in Europe. Have they been relocated?

EHK

[Peter Lundy]

Hello Malcolm,
I took a break from reading a biography of Irving Berlin, (by Edward Jablonski) on Sunday to read your interview in The (UK) Observer. When I returned to the book I learned that the great songwriter worked as a singing waiter at The Pelham in the Bowery every day, 8pm to 6am, from 1904 to 1907. He also stayed after hours to teach himself piano thereby achieving well over 10000 hours.

Thanks for getting me thinkin'.

Peter Lundy

[Mike]

I saw you on the Colbert report and really enjoyed your insights. Followed that up with reading some of your New Yorker articles which are outstanding. When are you coming out with this years Worst Dressed Celebrity list?

[Perry Shulak]

I haven't seen the book here in Edmonton yet, I suspect it's out today. I can't wait. I comply with your position, that yes, community and culture does have a huge impact, and it's an ingredient that I have been trying to piece together. I'm searching for understanding of limits that exist for my discipline in my local market and what would required to move beyond it. I believe this book will provide me with much vision, like your other books.

[StephanieInCA]

Ahoy there! Haven't picked up Outliers yet, but I LOVED Tipping Point... Thought you might be interested to know a "tipping point" story about our president-elect: http://urbzen.com/2008/11/18/history-is-just-a-series-of-accidents-in-time/