Gary
En-Route
I really have a love/hate relationship with statistics. I love reading about all the foibles of mankind that are not readily apparent, but I hate it when some of them apply to me!
Outliers is a fairly short read and does not require the reader to be able to solve differential equations to understand the concepts. The author leads us through a number of not so apparent situations where common sense may not be the over-riding factor at work.
For example, if one wanted to be a star in the Canadian Hockey League, why would your month of birth be so important to your success?
In something more germane to this board, how could the performance of a commercial airline crew in an emergency, be forecast ahead of time based on the crews place of birth? The author uses the example of Korean Air’s atrocious safety record and how they turned it around.
Why you have never heard of the smartest man in the world?
He also skewers the time honored American thought of the lone independent genius who builds up a huge business on his/her own grit and skill (think John Rockefeller or Bill Gates). Did any of these “geniuses” really do it “all on their own” or were there some not so obvious advantages that helped them along? Oh, and what do the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common that contributed to their success?
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn how seemingly unimportant factors can drastically affect ones success in life. Can't say I agree with all of his theories, but then again maybe it's so! It’s still a fun to read and is quite entertaining!
Gary
Outliers is a fairly short read and does not require the reader to be able to solve differential equations to understand the concepts. The author leads us through a number of not so apparent situations where common sense may not be the over-riding factor at work.
For example, if one wanted to be a star in the Canadian Hockey League, why would your month of birth be so important to your success?
In something more germane to this board, how could the performance of a commercial airline crew in an emergency, be forecast ahead of time based on the crews place of birth? The author uses the example of Korean Air’s atrocious safety record and how they turned it around.
Why you have never heard of the smartest man in the world?
He also skewers the time honored American thought of the lone independent genius who builds up a huge business on his/her own grit and skill (think John Rockefeller or Bill Gates). Did any of these “geniuses” really do it “all on their own” or were there some not so obvious advantages that helped them along? Oh, and what do the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common that contributed to their success?
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn how seemingly unimportant factors can drastically affect ones success in life. Can't say I agree with all of his theories, but then again maybe it's so! It’s still a fun to read and is quite entertaining!
Gary
