Book Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

OUTLIERS

****

I first became interested in this book when my husband bought a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Tipping Point. I mentioned this to a friend and she told me a little bit about Outliers. The book is about what makes the true Outliers in the world (for example, Tiger Woods) outliers. The idea of the book intrigued me, and my friend's recommendation made me think it was worth looking into.

I tried to find an audio copy but it was ridiculously expensive so I canned the whole idea. Then one day I was browsing through books on my online Nook shop and found it for a reasonable price so I purchased it. The first few chapters were kind of interesting, but it seemed like Malcolm Gladwell was Captain Obvious. One of the first points he makes in the book is that if a student is one of the older students in class (depending on how birthdays fall) there are a lot of advantages, to include opportunities with sports. That seemed like a no-brainer but I kept reading anyway and I'm glad I did.

There are many interesting things about this book and many points I had not considered before reading about them. For example, Asians do have a mathematical advantage over us because the naming convention for their numbering system makes more sense than ours. That being the case, they are able to count higher at a younger age and the advantage continues from there.

Gladwell himself is an interesting character. I saw him recently in an interview on 60 Minutes, where he talked a little about why the underdog can actually have an advantage by being the underdog. If the underdog knows he can't beat the favorite by conventional methods, he may work to find an approach to winning that would not have otherwise been thought of, in which case, the advantage actually goes to the underdog.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a different way of looking at things and being introduced to some new concepts. It's a good non-fiction book from a perspective that you haven't already heard a hundred times before.

Book Review - Nadia Knows Best by Jill Mansell

NADIA KNOWS BEST

*****

I downloaded this book a few weeks ago for the bargain price of $1.99. The reader reviews raved on and on about the book and the author, so I hoped it would be a cute story.

I started reading it and after the first chapter or two, I got involved in a different book I was reading and finished that one first, then returned to Nadia Knows Best. At some point I fell in love with the characters. Not only does Jill Mansell have a compelling story line for all of her characters, she also keeps mystery and intrigue flowing throughout the book.

There are several different love stories within this book and something crazy going on with every character. Just as the book's moving in the direction you think it's going to go, something unpredictable happens that changes everything and keeps you turning pages. There is an undercurrent of a broken family trying to stick together through everything. There were so many layers to this book, yet at the same time, it was a fun, lighthearted read.

I was enjoying this book so much that two-thirds of the way through it, I downloaded a half-dozen more books by the same author. I had never heard of Jill Mansell before but she is a best-selling author out of Bristol in England, and she has sold more than 7 million copies of her books.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a lighthearted read with lovable characters and something more than the boy meets girl and they live happily ever after story.