Outliers: the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell manages to find intriguing patterns in seemingly unrelated events. In vivid writing he draws the reader in as he gradually reveals the elements of the chosen mystery. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the role of culture in family feuds and his ethnic theory of plane crashes (which I was reading while flying on an airplane!). He shows that culture, circumstance, timing, birth and luck all combine to magnify individual effort. This is a quick read that complements his previous bestsellers: "The Tipping Point" and "Blink". JS