November 30, 2008

Outliers

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OUTLIERS….Should I pick up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and give it a read? I’m sort of disinclined to for two reasons. First, I read Blink this year and was surprised at how bad a book it was. Even at a slim 200 pages, I’d say that a good half of it was unrelated to its putative subject. Second, I gather that the subject of Outliers is that there’s a considerable amount of luck involved in becoming successful. But is that something that really needs an entire popular book? It seems like one of those topics that’s so obviously true that it hardly bears a detailed dissection.

But then again, maybe it’s not quite so obvious as I think. Has anybody read it? Do you recommend it, maybe as something to put on my Christmas list?

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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