If Outliers doesn't change your life, you're already Bill Gates, or you're dead. I'm going to give you the entire secret of Outliers in a nutshell: If you want to be one of the uber-elite who swoop in and make not only zillions of dollars, but make history in the process, you have to have three things. You have to have an amazing stroke of luck, you have to have the right background, and then you have to work really, really hard. Bill Gates wasn't born a programming genius. He spent years in tiny dark rooms programming early computers before he got the lucky break that put him miles ahead of everyone else in the programming space. The Beatles would never have gotten out of their garage phase if they hadn't spent 12 hours a day for nearly 2 years playing in German clubs. Outliers will confirm that sinking feeling you have that you will never be in the same league as the anointed few in their ivory towers - the ones that we all aspire to be. But it's not all bad news. Read Outliers, and you'll be convinced that anyone who's willing to put in the time will be poised to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to all of us at one time or another.

This is a fascinating book, catching how we think and react before we realize it ("in the blink of an eye"). Instincts are just below the surface and we often run on automatic pilot, not necessarily in the right direction. Gladwell also mentions another favorite book, "The Gift of Fear" by Gaven de Becker. In it de Becker brings up how we don't react when our instinctual sense of fear, just under the surface, can save our lives. In this way both books are looking at the same thing, only with a different angle. (I think every female should read de Becker's book and anyone interested in how we think and act will love both books!)

Many of these essays appeared first in the New Yorker, so if you've read them, you can probably take a pass. While The Tipping Point doesn't say anything *new*, necessarily, Gladwell's voice is pretty entertaining and readable. The paperback came out in 2002 and by now, some of the topics seem prescient. His essay about Connectors, featuring a little old lady from Chicago, resonates in our Facebook age, and his description of Sesame Street's impact on literacy convinced my mother she was right to limit our television watching to PBS. Again, though, if you're looking for something more than quasi-sociological evidence for "phenomena" we already know, you won't find it here. If you're looking for entertaining reading about the society we're living in, you've come to the right place.