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Outliers, 2008

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, published on 2008.11.18.

It was 13 years ago (almost to the day) that this book was published. Re-reading it, I still found it immensely enjoyable: his style of writing, his stories and now his diction.

He believes that successful people have a few things in common: self motivation (10,000 hours at least), cultural environment and circumstances.

Ivan Lendl (1960-; 10 slams) gave an interview around late 1990s – shortly after his retirement in 1994, that … sure McCanroe (1959-; 7 slams) has more talent … but I work harder, which itself is a talent …” Lendl also laughed at Andre Agaasi (1970-; 8 slams) who ended up not having a not too shabby career.

On cultural environment, one of the examples Gladwell used was Korean Air (1962) whose records from 1970-99 was the worst in the business (700 passengers and crew died), patly because the stringent social class. That first officer wasn’t really checking the captain.

On circumstances, Bill Gates would not have been the richest man had other 13 years kids had access to a computer as he did.

这本书出版于 13 年前. 重读它, 我仍然觉得它非常有趣: 他的写作风格、他的故事和他的声音.

他认为成功人士有几个共同点: 自我努力 (至少 10,000 小时), 文化背景和环境.

记得Ivan Lendl (烂赌;  1960-; 赢了10 个大满贯; 1994退休) 在 1990 年代后期接受采访时说, “…当然 McEnroe (麦肯罗 1959 年-; 7 大满贯; 1994/2006) 有更多的天赋…但我懂得努力地训练; 这本身也是天才呀…” [烂赌还嘲笑 Agaasi (阿加西; 1970-;8大满贯; 2006) 贪玩, 华而不实 …]

在文化背景方面, Gladwell 使用的例子之一是大韩航空 (1962 ). 其 1970-99 年的记录是业内最差的 (700 名乘客和机组人员死亡). 原因之一是因为严格的社会阶层. 副驾驶不敢真正检查他的上司-正驾.

在环境方面,  如果其他 13 岁的孩子能像 Bill Gates 盖茨一样有机会使用电脑, 盖茨就不会以微软成功.

天时地利人和: 老生常谈, 但还是听得津津有味.

Published inBlog 博客

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