outliers summary of book

43 pages • 1 hour read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 2

Part 1, Chapters 3-5

Part 2, Chapters 6-7

Part 2, Chapter 8-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success is Malcolm Gladwell’s third book, published in 2008. Gladwell is a prolific writer for the New Yorker , where he has been on staff since 1996. His writing often incorporates research from the social sciences, as in Outliers , in which he makes the case that the way we understand and portray success is wrong. Before joining the staff of the New Yorker , Gladwell was a reporter for the Washington Post from 1987 to 1996. He holds an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Toronto. In 2005, Time magazine named him one of that year’s 100 most influential people.

Gladwell presents his main theme in the Introduction: outliers, or people who fall outside of what is often considered typical due to their extraordinary success. His argument is that it takes many factors to create such a person, including family and cultural background as well as random circumstances. This goes against the commonly-held romantic notion of individual success through innate genius and hard work. Chapter 1 illustrates this by examining hockey stars in Canada. The key element in their success is an early birth date, ensuring that as children they will be that much more physically developed in their age class. This advantage leads them to progress faster, which leads to moving up the ranks.

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Chapter 2 introduces the idea of the “10,000-hour rule” as necessary to success. The author presents a study of musicians that concluded total practice time from when someone began playing an instrument was the sole difference between elite players and the others. Researchers concluded that 10,000 hours is the minimum amount necessary for reaching the top level in any field. Gladwell uses the Beatles and Bill Gates as two examples of this phenomenon.

In the next two chapters, he looks at the idea of genius as measured by IQ tests. His premise is that if success is purely innate and individual, the higher the IQ someone has, the higher their level of success should be. He demonstrates that this is false through the story of Chris Langan, a man with perhaps the highest IQ in the world. Langan has held a series of odd jobs and has had only moderate success, which Gladwell largely attributes to his dysfunctional family background. He contrasts this with the story of a lawyer named Joe Flom in Chapter 5. Flom’s parents weren’t wealthy but made a decent living in the garment industry; through timing and luck of geography, Flom would become one of the wealthiest, most successful attorneys in New York City. The public schools in the city were among the best in the nation when he attended them. He worked on corporate takeovers at a time when elite law firms thought it beneath them. Then, when the number of takeovers exploded in the 1970s and 1980s, he had put in his 10,000 hours and was poised to be the leading expert in the field.

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In the second part of the book, on legacy, Gladwell explores in depth the role of culture in people’s behavior. Chapter 6 explains how a “culture of honor” from the borderlands of Great Britain was carried over to the US and persists to this day. Chapter 7 investigates the role of South Korean culture in plane crashes, with Gladwell concluding that Koreans’ deference to authority made crashes more likely. Next, he postulates that the influence and history of cultivating rice make people in Asian cultures better in math than those in Western cultures. The last chapter demonstrates in a school setting how purposely changing one’s inherited culture can lead to different outcomes. In a long Epilogue, Gladwell shows how his own family’s background and culture, going back several generations, influenced his mother’s life and thus his own.

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• Outliers Summary

In Outliers: The Story of Success , Malcolm Gladwell sets out to explain the various factors that lead to mastery and renown. The book itself is structured as a series of case studies that span different cultures and different time periods, but that all relate to a few central theses and theories. For Gladwell, success is not simply the product of a powerful personality or a high IQ. Instead, successful individuals often thrive thanks to the right combination of hard work, community support, and meaningful opportunity.

Outliers begins by considering the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania, a small community with remarkably low incidence of health problems such as heart disease. After this brief introductory section, Gladwell considers the first of the major factors--personal opportunity--behind his theory of success. He shows that completely arbitrary factors, such as day and year of birth, can determine opportunities to practice and achieve excellence . However, he also argues that expected measures of brilliance (such as IQ) are less important than influences such as class background, parenting styles, and work habits in determining an individual's future.

Where Gladwell's "Opportunity" section considers remarkable individuals such as programmer Bill Joy , software mogul Bill Gates , physicist Robert Oppenheimer , and unsung intellectual Chris Langan, Gladwell's next section shifts emphasis: in "Legacy," Gladwell argues that one's culture of origin--and some of the completely random circumstances that it presents--can determine success or failure. The discussion that takes place in "Legacy" addresses the cultural, social, and psychological roots of family feuds, airplane crashes, and mathematical aptitude. For Gladwell, the society of one's ancestors--whether those ancestors herded sheep in rural England or worked a rice paddy in rural China--can determine one's practices and preferences even in the present day.

To support his theses in the most personal manner possible, Gladwell uses the final section of Outliers , "A Jamaican Story," to show that the forces of culture and chance that have been analyzed throughout his book shaped the lives of his grandmother, his mother, and himself.

Outliers Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Outliers is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Outliers Questions

Yes, I believe that certain people are born with certain talents.

Gladwell says that in the end, preparation becomes plays a bigger role than talent. The "best" practice more than anyone else. Thus, someone with innate talent must still prepare or...

What is accumulative advantage?

All the advantages that one gets in life leading to success like family wealth, opportunity, race........All of these advantages accumulate.

What is the magic number for mastering a specific skill?

That would be 10000 hours.

Study Guide for Outliers

Outliers study guide contains a biography of Malcolm Gladwell, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Outliers
• Character List

Essays for Outliers

Outliers essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

• The 10,000 Hour Rule in Outliers
• Malcolm Gladwell's "Small Change": A Rhetorical Analysis

Lesson Plan for Outliers

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Outliers
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Outliers Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Outliers

• Introduction

Outliers Summary

1-Sentence-Summary:   Outliers explains why “the self-made man” is a myth and what truly lies behind the success of the best people in their field, which is often a series of lucky events, rare opportunities and other external factors, which are out of our control.

Favorite quote from the author:

Table of Contents

Video Summary

Outliers review, audio summary, who would i recommend the outliers summary to.

The only thing I knew about Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers , was that this is the book that the 10,000 hour rule came from. The rule says to become world-class at anything, you have to put in 10,000 hours of practice, which equals to about 5 years of uninterrupted 40-hour workweeks worth of practice. In reality, it’s often closer to 10 years.

Therefore, I expected the book to be about deliberate practice and how success is in your own hands , if you work hard enough. Boy, was I wrong. The book argues the exact opposite.

Here is a summary of Outliers in just 3 lessons:

• After you cross a certain skill threshold, your abilities won’t help you.
• The month you’re born in matters.
• Asians are good at math, because where you come from matters.

Let’s see what it takes to be an outlier!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Lesson 1: After you cross a certain skill threshold, your abilities won’t help you.

To debunk the myth of the “self-made man”, which might be the most popular myth of our time, Gladwell first looked at how much your skills really influence where you end up in life.

Of course practice matters, and so do genetic predispositions in sports, but there are limits to their influence. As it turns out, once you cross a certain threshold with your skills and abilities, any extra won’t do you much good .

For example, since the 1980s, the average height of an NBA basketball player has been 6′ 7″ . Even if you grow to be 7′ tall, those additional inches won’t give you a huge advantage over other players.

Gladwell also looked at law school students and their performance. Some law schools lower their admission requirements for racial minorities, and even though these students tend to perform worse than their non-minority peers both before and in law school, this gap completely disappears once they graduate .

They make the same valuable contributions, get paid just as much and receive as many honors as their peers. Why?

Because once you’ve reached a certain level of legal expertise, other factors start to take over and influence your career, like social skills, how good your network is, and even catching a lucky break.

Lesson 2: Being born in the wrong month can put you at a disadvantage.

Remember when you saw an 8th grader in high school date a 10th grader? You were probably shocked! “He’s 2 years older than her, that’s insane!” – I still remember the comments, it was a huge deal in our school.

However, when you’re 40 and take your wife to dinner with the neighbors, nobody would be surprised to hear she’s 38, 42, or even several more years older or younger than you.

That’s because  relative age matters, especially when you’re young.  How old you are compared to your peers can give you a huge advantage or disadvantage, for example in sports.

Gladwell found out that most professional Canadian hockey players, who end up in the NHL, are born in the first half of the year. In fact, twice as many have birthdays in the first quarter as in the last .

That’s because the annual cutoff date for youth teams is January 1st, meaning kids born in December have to compete with their friends who are almost a year older than they are. When you’re 8 years old, you stand no chance against a 9 year old in terms of strength and speed – the difference is huge when a year makes up 12.5% of your entire life.

Think through your own life, and you’ll see this happens all the time. I too suffered from this problem in school!

Lesson 3: Asians are good at math, because where you come from matters.

If you think age is bad, try imagining being born somewhere entirely different . Warren Buffett always says he’s been lucky to have been born into the United States at the time he was , because a few thousand years ago, with his kinds of genes, he’d have been some animal’s lunch.

For example, Gladwell says there’s a reason for the stereotype that “Asians are good at math.” Several factors actually  are  in favor of Asians becoming relatively good at it.

First, Asian languages are set up so that children learn to add numbers simultaneously with learning to count. Second, hundreds of years of building a traditional culture around farming rice has instilled a great sense of discipline into Asian culture.

Unlike farming wheat or corn, farming rice is hard. It needs a lot more precision, control, coordination and patience. Rice farmers could also reap the full rewards of their work, whereas European farmers were often robbed of a big part of their harvest by greedy landlords and nobility, leaving them far less motivated to do their best.

Just like rice farming, math is hard. You have to stick with problems and let the gears in your brain crunch until you work it out. Europeans often give up a lot faster on hard math questions than their Asian peers, because neither math nor discipline are a part of their cultural legacy.

So yes, where you’re born matters .

I loved The Tipping Point , and I expect Outliers to be just as awesome. I’m really glad I read the summary first. Now, I’m even more interested in it than before. It is refreshing to hear some counter-arguments to the “self-made man” myth. I hope you enjoyed our brief book summary of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This one’s definitely worth your time.

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account:

The 21-year-old with a weakness for motivational talks, who’s sure if he just keeps working hard every day, he’ll eventually get his dream, the 38-year-old Mum, who’s worried her child might get bullied in school for being younger, and anyone who thinks Asians are good at math is a stupid cliché.

Last Updated on July 28, 2022

Niklas Göke

Niklas Göke is an author and writer whose work has attracted tens of millions of readers to date. He is also the founder and CEO of Four Minute Books, a collection of over 1,000 free book summaries teaching readers 3 valuable lessons in just 4 minutes each. Born and raised in Germany, Nik also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration & Engineering from KIT Karlsruhe and a Master’s Degree in Management & Technology from the Technical University of Munich. He lives in Munich and enjoys a great slice of salami pizza almost as much as reading — or writing — the next book — or book summary, of course!

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Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm gladwell.

309 pages, Hardcover

First published November 18, 2008

About the author

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On my left shoulder there is an angel. She says it's risky to extrapolate from rarefied laboratory conditions to the real world. She says that publication bias in this field [psychology] is extensive, so whenever researches get negative findings, they're probably left unpublished in a desk drawer. And she says it's uncommon to see a genuinely systematic review of the literature on these topics, so you rarely get to see all the conflicting research in one place. My angel has read the books of Malcolm Gladwell, and she finds them to be silly and overstated.

The A.V. Club: Your books all focus on singularities—in The Tipping Point, singular events, in Blink, singular moments, and in Outliers, singular people. Was there a single instance in your life that made you start seeing the world in terms of single points? Malcolm Gladwell: I just think I'm attracted to those kinds of singular things because they always make the best stories. I'm in the storytelling business , and so you're always drawn to the unusual. And early on, I discovered that's the easiest way to tell stories, so I've stuck with it ever since. And if you come up through a newspaper as I did, your whole goal is to get a story on the front page , and you only get something on the front page if it's unusual, so you're quickly weaned off the notion that you should be interested in the mundane.

Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.

OUTLIERS: : a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample : a person or thing that is atypical within a particular group, class, or category Definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

In the 1860s and 1870s, the American economy went through perhaps the greatest transformation in its history. This was when the railroads were being built and when Wall Street emerged. It was when industrial manufacturing started in earnest.

Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don’t. They are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky — but all critical to making them who they are. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all. (Page 285)

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Book Summary Outliers , by Malcolm Gladwell

We love tales of geniuses and underdogs who rise to success through extraordinary talent and hard work—but this isn’t the whole story. In Outliers , Malcolm Gladwell argues that these stories of supposedly self-made men and women mislead us into thinking that success is an individual achievement. But in reality, every successful person had circumstances that contributed to their success.

In this guide, we’ll explain why uncontrollable factors like when you’re born, how you’re raised, and the culture you grow up in impact your success just as much as personal attributes. We’ve also included commentary that adds context to the case studies, provides nuance to the principles, and offers alternative explanations for Gladwell’s conclusions.

1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of Outliers

When we learn about someone who’s extremely successful—an outlier—we often want to know what that person is like . We assume that they must be exceptionally gifted, intelligent, or passionate, and that these personal qualities are the keys to their success. This is the basis of the idea of the self-made man (or woman), who has earned their success and is in control of their destiny.

However, in Outliers , Gladwell argues that the self-made man is a myth. Instead, he says success depends just as much on factors that lie beyond the individual and the individual’s control , including where and when they were born, what kind of family they were born into, how they were parented, and how much money their family has.

(Shortform note: The myth of the self-made man is central to American culture. Around the time of America’s founding, Immanuel Kant promoted the idea that a person is “what he makes of himself,” as he and his fellow Enlightenment philosophers ushered in a growing secularism. Scholars suggest that when the nation’s founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence that people are entitled to the “pursuit of happiness,” they shifted from a Christian focus on reaching heaven to a secular emphasis on attaining earthly success through ambition and autonomy.)

Gladwell is a journalist; author of several best-selling books, including The Tipping Point and Blink ; co-founder of Pushkin Industries ; and host of the podcast Revisionist History . By the time Outliers was published in 2008, he’d garnered international fame and millions of fans for his accessible blend of storytelling and social science research. Seemingly in response to this acclaim, Gladwell dedicates the epilogue of the book to examining the unique circumstances that contributed to his own success.

Gladwell makes a case for the “nurture” side of the nature versus nurture debate—that environment and circumstance are at least as important as innate ability. His argument focuses on opportunities and culture. First, we’ll explore the importance of opportunities and the types of opportunities that significantly impact success. Then, we’ll examine how various cultures shape people’s behaviors and trajectories.

The Nature vs. Nurture Debate The book’s focus on “nurture” elaborates on a New Yorker article in which Gladwell disputed the idea that a person’s intelligence is tied to their race —a controversial implication of the “nature” argument. Specifically, the 1994 book The Bell Curve asserts that genes primarily determine a person’s intelligence and that the intellectually elite naturally rise to power in the United States. This echoed statements by Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, who co-discovered DNA, and by prominent psychologist Arthur Jensen, who concluded that racial differences in American children’s test scores were attributable to genetics rather than circumstances. These views drew fervent criticism for suggesting that Black Americans are intellectually inferior to whites. However, in 2003, psychologist Eric Turkheimer revealed an important caveat to the nature argument: He concluded that DNA determines a person’s potential , but that their environment determines whether they reach that potential . Gladwell builds on this principle in Outliers .

Part 1: Opportunity Is Key to Success

In Part 1, Gladwell argues that people can’t become successful without the opportunity to become successful. While a person’s individual attributes—like talent and work ethic—may determine their potential, external factors determine who has the opportunity to reach their potential and who faces roadblocks.

Furthermore, Gladwell writes that people who get opportunities early in life have a huge advantage over those whose opportunities come later, because:

1. They create self-fulfilling prophecies. Children who believe they’re talented or smart act as if they are, which leads them to actually develop the talent or intellect they believe they already possess. Likewise, children who believe they’re unremarkable tend to embody that identity.

(Shortform note: In Mindset , psychologist Carol S. Dweck reveals a caveat to this: Children who are praised for being smart tend to shy away from difficult tasks for fear of failure because they want to uphold their identity as a smart person. This reaction comes from a fixed mindset, a belief that innate abilities (like intelligence) are unchangeable . By contrast, children who are praised for their effort develop a growth mindset, a belief that you can build upon your natural abilities by working hard and challenging yourself.)

2. They benefit from accumulative advantage , meaning that early opportunities lead to more opportunities, creating a snowball effect of compounding advantages. By the same token, the Matthew effect also describes how small disadvantages tend to snowball into larger ones.

(Shortform note: Research shows that the concept of accumulative advantage—a principle called the Matthew Effect—applies to many areas of life, including education and wealth distribution . However, [the reality is more...

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READ FULL SUMMARY OF OUTLIERS

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Outliers Summary Shortform Introduction

Outliers is a collection of stories, each exploring a variety of external factors that contribute to success. Malcolm Gladwell argues that extraordinarily successful people—or outliers—reached that point not just because of hard work and determination, but also thanks to luck, timing, and opportunities. He challenges the notion of self-made success through anecdotes and insight from various disciplines, including history, sociology, and psychology.

About the Author

Gladwell is a New Yorker staff writer and author of several bestselling books that have earned him worldwide fame and millions of fans for his captivating style of writing and unusual subjects. Gladwell blends storytelling with social science research to offer new perspectives on topics such as how trends catch on and when to trust your intuition. His books—which include five New York Times bestsellers and have sold millions of copies in dozens of countries—have popularized concepts such as the “ broken windows theory ,” the Pareto principle , the...

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Outliers Summary Introduction: Defining an Outlier

In Part 1, Gladwell explores the importance of opportunity in setting the stage for success. These opportunities come in many different forms, as we’ll explore below. But before we start breaking down the components of the outlier’s success, let’s look at what an outlier is.

The Myth of the Outlier

Gladwell defines outliers as people who reach a level of success so extraordinary that it’s statistically improbable.

We typically assume that outliers must be exceptionally gifted, intelligent, or passionate. Gladwell notes that this belief promotes the idea of the self-made man (or woman), who relies on their innate intelligence and perseverance to succeed. According to this mythology, the self-made person has earned their success and is in control of their destiny.

However, Gladwell argues that success depends just as much on factors that lie beyond the individual and their control , including their culture, community, and family. Upon further inspection, there are hidden advantages, exceptional opportunities, and cultural legacies that contribute to the outlier’s success.

Origins of the Self-Made Man Myth In taking on the myth of the self-made...

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Outliers Summary Part 1: Opportunity | Chapter 1: Opportunity Is Key to Success

In Part 1, Gladwell argues that people can’t become successful without the opportunity to become successful. These opportunities come in many forms, and in this and the next few chapters, he examines different types of opportunities, including:

• Opportunities to gain more opportunities (Chapter 2)
• Being raised in a way that fosters practical intelligence (Chapter 4)
• Unexpected benefits of seemingly unfavorable environments (Chapter 5)

While a person’s individual attributes—like talent and work ethic—may determine their potential , Gladwell asserts that external factors determine who has the opportunity to reach their potential , and who faces roadblocks. In other words, it’s impossible to achieve success if you don’t have the chance to put your skills to work.

Furthermore, Gladwell writes that people who get opportunities early in life have a huge advantage over those whose opportunities come later, because early opportunities:

• Create self-fulfilling prophecies
• Benefit from accumulative advantage

Seemingly Minor Aspects of Upbringing Can Have Big Impacts In addition to the benefits that Gladwell describes, your childhood...

Shortform Exercise: Acknowledge Early Opportunities in Your Life

Think about the role of accumulative advantage and self-fulfilling prophecy in your own life.

Describe one opportunity or disadvantage that you had early in your life or career. For instance, maybe you had a particularly supportive coach, or you had to cope with instability in your home life.

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Outliers Summary Chapter 2: The Opportunity of Time (and Timing)

It may seem obvious that we need to work hard to succeed, but Gladwell argues that, too often, we attribute success solely to talent and forget that the hours we put in matter just as much as, if not significantly more than, the natural gifts we start with. He writes that, after a certain level of natural talent gets your foot in the door in a particular field, practice becomes the determining factor in how successful you are.

Although we tend to think of practice as an equalizer—that anyone who is a hard worker can succeed—Gladwell points out that having the time to practice enough to master a skill is a luxury afforded only to the privileged.

Gladwell cites studies showing that the most masterful individuals in their fields have practiced their craft for at least 10,000 hours, which averages nearly 20 hours every week for 10 years. Someone needs to be in pretty extraordinary circumstances (with the extraordinary opportunities they provide) to accumulate 10,000 hours of focused practice as a young person.

The 10,000-Hour Debate K. Anders Ericsson, the psychologist who led the study from which Gladwell gleaned the 10,000-hour rule, has criticized Gladwell...

Shortform Exercise: Clock Your 10,000 Hours

How can you achieve your 10,000 hours for mastery?

Think of a skill or craft that you wish to master. How much time would you estimate you’ve already spent deliberately practicing that skill?

Outliers Summary Chapters 3-4: The Opportunity of Intelligence

In addition to the opportunity of time, Gladwell argues that successful people have the opportunity of intelligence—though not the type of intelligence we typically associate with success. He notes two types of intelligence:

1. Analytical Intelligence

• Measured by IQ tests
• Good for solving intellectual puzzles
• Genetic and innate, at least in part

2. Practical Intelligence

• Not measured by IQ tests
• Also known as social savvy; enables you to accurately read other people and situations and adjust accordingly, in order to get what you want
• Learned rather than innate

(Shortform note: Analytical and practical intelligence are two of three types identified in psychologist Robert Sternberg’s model of intelligence , called the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. The third type is creative intelligence, which entails thinking outside the box to come up with innovative solutions.)

Although we tend to assume that analytical intelligence—indicated by a high IQ—is a prerequisite for success, Gladwell asserts that extraordinary success in life is often the result of practical intelligence. As we’ll see, this...

Shortform Exercise: Take the Divergence Test

Are you a divergent or convergent thinker?

Set a timer for two minutes. Answer the question: How many uses can you think of for a box?

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Shortform Exercise: Hone Your Practical Intelligence

Reflect on your upbringing and strategize to fill in any gaps in practical intelligence.

Describe at least one instance in your childhood in which your parents demonstrated that you should either challenge or comply with authority.

Outliers Summary Chapter 5: Opportunities Hidden in Hardships

So far, we’ve looked at the opportunities provided by privilege and good fortune. But difficult circumstances can also bring unexpected opportunities.

In this chapter, Gladwell illustrates this point by examining the life of Joe Flom, a lawyer who grew up in poverty during the Great Depression. As we’ll discuss, because of his early hardships, Flom grew up to become a partner at one of the largest and most powerful law firms in the world—Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom.

Although Gladwell frames Flom as an outlier, he clarifies that Flom is representative of an inordinate number of highly successful lawyers who had the same hidden opportunities that we’ll explore in this chapter: being Jewish, being the child of garment workers, and being born in the 1930s. As we’ll see, these circumstances and their consequences encapsulate many of the principles from previous chapters, such as accumulative advantage, the importance of upbringing, and the necessity of thousands of hours of practice to master a skill.

Let’s look at the hidden opportunities in this rags-to-riches story.

Hidden Opportunity #1: Being Jewish

Gladwell writes that **when Flom entered the job...

Shortform Exercise: Find Opportunities in Challenges

Reflect on the advantages you’ve gained from your disadvantages.

Describe a difficult challenge you’ve faced in your life.

Outliers Summary Part 2: The Effects of Cultural Legacies | Chapters 6-9

The cultures of our ancestors (even the aspects we no longer practice or ascribe to) influence our present-day behaviors. In Part 2, Gladwell explores how the legacies of our cultures foster or impede our success by examining three distinct cultures:

• The culture of honor (Chapter 6)
• The culture of deference (Chapter 7)
• The culture of diligence (Chapter 8)

Each example shows that it matters where you’re from—not only geographically but also culturally. Then, in Chapter 9, we’ll examine a case study of a school who achieved success because it challenged the cultural norms of western education.

Chapter 6: The Culture of Honor

First, Gladwell describes what sociologists call the culture of honor, in which your self-worth (and sometimes your livelihood) is based on your reputation. In this culture, you’re more likely to fight someone who challenges you and, therefore, jeopardizes your reputation. Whether or not you come from a culture of honor may impact how you respond to certain situations, which can affect your life trajectory.

(Shortform note: Gladwell doesn’t make an explicit connection between a culture of honor and success, as he did with the...

Shortform Exercise: Identify Cultural Legacies

Reflect on the lessons, beliefs, and assumptions passed down to you.

Think of lessons your parents explicitly taught you growing up, or values or beliefs you learned from your parents’ or other relatives’ example. What are they?

Shortform Exercise: What Is Success?

Gladwell’s examination of the formula for success challenges common beliefs.

In what ways has your idea of success changed after reading this book?

Table of Contents

Home » Business » Outliers Quick Summary: 15 Takeaways from Malcolm Gladwell’s Book

Outliers Quick Summary: 15 Takeaways from Malcolm Gladwell’s Book

Outliers: The Story of Success is a 2008 book by journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell. In this book, Gladwell dives into what makes the most successful people so good at what they do and discovers the commonalities they have which provided them with opportunities to succeed.

A 3 Minute Summary of the 15 Core Lessons

#1 Success Comes From Lots of Factors More than any single idea, Gladwell presents the concept that individual success is the result of multiple factors mingling and mixing together to form a perfect storm of circumstance and talent. One individual cannot be overly successful just because of their grit and determination. Nor can they be fantastically successful just because of their environment or upbringing. You need lots of things going right to produce a person of phenomenal success.

#2 10,000 Hours This isn’t to say that personal preparation and practice are not important. Gladwell reiterates the common idea that you need 10,000 hours of experience with something before you can become an expert in that field. This is not only an anecdote passed down between cultures but also scientifically valid.

#3 Love What You Do Naturally, most of us will be more willing to put 10,000 hours into a single subject or skill if we love that thing. Thus, you must discover what you love to do and focus as much of your time as you can into that subject or skill if you want to become an outstanding success in the field of your choosing.

#4 Know Your Own Culture Gladwell presents a startling example of airline pilots, accidents, and the cultures that different ethnicities of pilots came from and how all of those factors can affect airline safety. Knowing your culture, in terms of its limitations and its advantages, can help you become more successful. In addition, some cultures are more predisposed to produce successes in certain fields or subjects than others.

#5 Embrace Your Culture Because we’re all embroiled within our culture from the moment we are born, it might be a good idea to follow your heart so long as your own culture fosters skill development within that interest. Gladwell uses the development of the clothing business in New York City, developed by East European immigrants, as an example of how culture played a role in their success.

#6 Success is Partially Based on Luck In order to obtain the number of hours necessary to become an expert and in order to have a culture that nurtures your interests, you must be incredibly lucky compared to everyone. These are the titular “outliers”: those who were born at the right place and the right time to have an interest that led them to riches and greatness and the culture and aptitude to pursue their expertise to its conclusion.

#7 Early Success Leads to Later Success Gladwell also notes that those who start early in their passion or expertise tended to become more successful than those who begin late in life. The effects of success and of practice are cumulative. It’s important to develop your skills early on and, if you have kids, facilitate their interest as much as possible to give them the best shot at their maximum potential.

#8 Small Things Lead to Big Repercussions Gladwell uses the example of Chinese numbers being comparatively brief compared to English numbers. Because of this minor difference, Chinese people can recite seven digits more easily than English speakers and can theoretically perform arithmetic and excel at math more consistently. This small difference between languages may explain the huge cumulative advantage that many Chinese students have over many Western schoolchildren.

#9 Practical Intelligence The book makes a distinction between two types of intelligence: practical and analytical. The latter is what is tested by IQ exams and is what normally is prized by society. But practical intelligence, otherwise known as street smarts, is also important for those who want to become successful. Having a lot of practical intelligence will help you avoid social blunders and help you maximize social opportunities.

#10 Cultural Legacy Persists Whether you want to admit it or not, the legacy of your culture plays a huge role in who you are and your levels of success. Thus, cultural legacy and what we leave behind is even more important as it persists through many generations.

#11 Talent Matters Although the 10,000 hours mentioned earlier are the key to becoming an expert in any field, everyone must also understand that you have to have some natural aptitude to become a success in any field or ability. If you are terrible at playing the violin, 10,000 hours of practice won’t make you good enough to play in the best orchestras or best concerts.

#12 Opportunity is Exponential The good news for those who have the talent and time to make the most of their skills is that opportunity is exponential. Earning your initial successes and opportunities is much more difficult compared to once you have some achievements under your belt. This same concept is reflected with wealth; those who become rich find it easier to make money than those who are not already wealthy.

#13 Fulfillment There are three main factors that your work or vocation must give you in order to feel fulfilled in your life. The first is autonomy, or personal freedom to at least a certain extent. It must also be complex enough to provide you with an adequate physical or mental challenge. Lastly, your vocation or work must incorporate a clear connection between your efforts and any possible rewards.

#14 IQ Doesn’t Guarantee Success Having a high analytical intelligence does not necessarily mean you’ll be successful in your life. Instead, those who want to become astronomical successes must also cultivate social smarts and talent; raw intelligence is not enough of a crutch for most.

#15 Outliers are Rare Finally, many of us may wish to be outliers in order to obtain the rewards we associate with them. But outliers are by definition rare. So Gladwell advises those who would be disappointed to count their blessings, particularly as many outlier successes have difficult childhoods.

Top 10 Quotes from Outliers

• “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
• “Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.”
• “Those three things – autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people will agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.”
• “…If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.”
• “Achievement is talent plus preparation.”
• “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.”
• “In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”
• “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.”
• “We overlook just how large a role we all play–and by ‘we’ I mean society–in determining who makes it and who doesn’t.”
• “Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.”

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Malcolm’s 10 Rules for Success

Gladwell Explains Human Potential

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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: Summary and Lessons

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

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Table of Contents

Outliers Short Summary  

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that explores the hidden forces behind successful people. Gladwell shows that as much as talent and hard work are responsible for many of the success stories that we see and hear, there is much more to success than meets the eye. A bit repetitive so you can skim some parts but overall great lessons.

What Are Outliers?

Outliers are people who stand out . They are the top athletes, businessmen, billionaires, innovators, professionals, educators, scientists, and politicians. They are the definition of success. The ones that everyone looks up to.

When stories of outliers are told, there is a tendency to emphasize individual effort. Gladwell argues that there is another side to the story. Individual effort does count for a lot of things but it is just one of the reasons for success.

In other words:

Outliers don’t have a singular story. Luck, birthdays, opportunity, upbringing, and many other factors all play oversized roles too.

Part I: Opportunity 

The matthew effect.

The Matthew Effect: advantages tend to accumulate over time. Those that are given an early push get more advantages as time goes by and those that are put at a disadvantage continue to get limited resources. The Matthew Effect is basically another way of stating the law of cumulative advantage

The story of outliers follows a similar pattern. If you are put at an advantage over your peers and friends from an early age, the advantages will lead to meaningful differences in performance that persist for extended periods.

When looking at the stories of successful individuals, most people downplay the role that the Matthew Effect has on their life outcomes.

The 10,000 Hour Rule

The 10,000 Hour Rule: it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert at anything

But while this is true, the convergence of luck and opportunity is needed

For example:

• Bill Gates had unlimited exposure to computers at an early age
• Most of the Silicon Valley billionaires were just at the right age (born around 1955) and were in their early 20s when the computer revolution began
• Most elite hockey players are born in the month of January because the cut off for age-class hockey in Canada happens on January 1

Yes, preparation does play an oversized role when it comes to achieving greatness but so does luck and opportunity.

If you discount the role of luck and opportunity when retelling success stories, there are consequences for society including prematurely writing people off as failures.

“Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung. We make rules that frustrate achievement.” 

The Trouble With Geniuses

Having high intelligence (IQ) does not automatically mean that you will be successful in life. 

Above a certain IQ range, there isn’t much difference in performance.

There is a threshold for achieving in a particular area. Once that threshold is achieved, the influence of grades and IQ scores lessens with time.   

“If intelligence matters only up to a point, then past that point, other things—things that have nothing to do with intelligence—must start to matter more. It’s like basketball again: once someone is tall enough, then we start to care about speed and court sense and agility and ball-handling skills and shooting touch.”

The Role of Upbringing

Having a great mind is not enough. Genius has to be nurtured and encouraged.

When looking at the stories of outliers, it is easy to overlook the role that upbringing has on how successful one becomes. 

Studies show that background and upbringing have more of an impact on success than IQ scores.

Children from middle and upper-class families are taught to speak up, stand for themselves, and express thought independence. And this explains why they achieve more throughout their lives.

Their parents are also more involved in their lives and interests and this has a great impact on how they approach opportunities and challenges. They grow up believing that their voice and opinions matter even in the face of authority.  

“The heavily scheduled middle-class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences. She learns teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings. She is taught how to interact comfortably with adults, and to speak up when she needs to. In Lareau’s words, the middle-class children learn a sense of “entitlement.”

On the other hand, children from poor backgrounds don’t receive as much attention from their parents. As a result, they grow to be timid around many situations and develop stifling deference to authority.

The Benefits of Opportunity and Luck

Starting out at a disadvantage can be an opportunity in itself.

For some outliers, disadvantages are often blessings in disguise. Rags-to riches stories focus on the many odds that the hero had to overcome, but they fail to point out that the odds work to empower the hero over future adversities.

Outliers also benefit from “Demographic luck” or being born at the right time.

Those who came to maturity in the 1930s during the height of the great depression had less of a chance to make it than those who matured later when the economy was booming. 

At the same time, engaging in meaningful work no matter how humbling gives you the opportunity to learn and grow.

Humble meaningful work can also serve as a pebblestone for the prosperity of future generations.

Part II: Legacy

Cultural legacies.

Cultural legacies play an important role in determining the success of outliers.

These legacies shape how we react to our environments, how hard we work, how we approach opportunities, and our deference to power and authority.

• Some cultures demonstrate a high reverence for power and authority to the extent that it can hinder job performance and personal growth
• Others show greater levels of individuality and this can lead to greater personal independence and  a willingness to take risks
• It is easier to count in Asian languages. And because of this math is more intuitive to South East Asians as opposed to westerners
• Most of the cultures in China, Korea, and Japan have rice as their staple food. Cultivating rice is more labor-intensive compared to other forms of agriculture and this translates to different attitudes towards work and life in general

Low-Income vs High-Income Students

The difference in performance between low-income students and high-income students is not down to differences in intelligence. Given the same opportunities, students from the two groups perform at the same level.

Low-income students’ performance drops during the summer vacation. Their reading levels drop and their maths grades go down suggesting that the home environment has an oversized effect on school performance during the period.

The length of the summer vacation also has implications on how well students perform. Students from the Asian countries of Japan and China have longer school days and as a result have better reading and math skills. 

With proper instruction guidelines and interventions, it is possible to bridge the gap between low- income and high-income students. 

“We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth. We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur. But that’s the wrong lesson.”

What school kids from low-income communities need is a chance.

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Outliers: The Story of Success Summary

Malcolm Gladwell

Download summary as PDF, eBook/ePub, DOCX

Outliers: one sentence summary.

A fascinating exploration of the hidden factors that contribute to exceptional success.

Outliers: Bullet Point Summary

• Our society romanticizes the idea of a self-made individual, attributing success and achievement solely to innate abilities and personal efforts. In reality, extraordinary success is heavily influenced by factors such as cultural legacy, opportunities, and timing.
• Politicians like Jeb Bush have used the rhetoric of a “self-made-man” to bolster their image, despite coming from extremely privileged backgrounds. Outliers like Bush are statistically rare. The idea of a self-made person is a widely accepted but misleading myth.
• One's ability and innate capacity can be the foundations of success, but eventually they become more irrelevant after you reach a certain threshold. For example, just because you have an exceptionally high IQ does not mean you will win a Nobel Prize. Once a sufficient amount of expertise is achieved, traits such as social skills, connections, or luck become more important for success.
• To be outstanding in your field, you need a lot of practice. Studies show that achieving world-class mastery in anything requires a critical minimum amount of 10,000 hours of practice.
• It is a privilege to have the opportunity to practice for 10,000 hours. You need to have early exposure, access to the necessary resources and equipment, and support from family and friends. Bill Gates is one of the few people who met this criteria during the nascence of the field of personal computers.
• Being born in the right place at the right time plays a crucial role in success. People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs all had ambition and practical intelligence, but what made them ultra successful was the unique opportunities they were able to capitalize on. They were born at the right time to take advantage of their access to new technologies and be at the perfect age to start their companies. This is why many software tycoons were born between 1954 and 1956.
• This cumulative advantage or disadvantage from your birth date also applies to other areas, such as schools. A six-year-old can become discouraged and disadvantaged if her peers are mostly seven year olds.
• Once you reach a certain level of skill, natural abilities matter less than practical intelligence , which involves knowing how to navigate social situations (e.g., dealing with authority). Wealthier parents tend to instill practical intelligence and a sense of entitlement in their children through attention and enriching activities, while poorer parents are less likely to teach these skills, which can significantly reduce their children's chances of success.
• Your geographical and cultural background can affect your success. For example, there is truth to the stereotype that Asians are good at math. In many Asian countries, math is integrated into language learning and so the children develop math skills earlier. Furthermore, Asian countries' history of reliance on rice farming, which is more difficult than farming Western crops, developed a lasting legacy of strong work ethic. Studies have shown that students in Western countries give up on math problems far sooner than students in Eastern countries do.
• Cultural legacies can also be harmful. For example, Korean Air had an abnormally high rate of plane crashes. An explanation is the Korean culture's tendency to respect authority figures and defer to higher-ranking individuals, which led to communication failures where pilots were hesitant to speak freely and clearly to their superiors. After addressing this issue, Korean Air's crash-rate improved to normal.
• The uneven playing fields that exist in various fields of life can hinder people from succeeding. For instance, annual cutoff dates in hockey mean that some juniors born late in the year have to compete against older and more experienced players, resulting in lower confidence and lost opportunities. Similarly, children from disadvantaged backgrounds may not have access to the same opportunities as those from wealthier families. However, by recognizing these flaws in the system and dividing young hockey players into narrower age groups or creating programs for low-income children, we can create more opportunities and reduce the impact of external factors on success.

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Outliers Summary

Summary of  Outliers   Book by Malcolm Gladwell

Short summary, it is not enough to ask what successful people are like; their ancestry and environment play equally significant roles in their success story, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.

Geniuses are the purest forms of outliers but the outcome of their lives buttress the fact that talent and hard work are not the only determinants of outstanding success

Successful people do not do it alone; they are the products of particular places and environments, the “culture of honor” hypothesis says that it matters where you’re from, not just in terms of where you grew up but in terms of your ancestry, by taking cultural legacies seriously, we can learn something about why people succeed and how to make them better at what they do, no one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich, outliers are those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them, what is outliers about.

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell explores the factors that contribute to extraordinary success. Through a combination of research and storytelling, Gladwell challenges the notion of individual merit and highlights the importance of external influences such as culture, upbringing, and opportunity. By examining the lives of outliers, individuals who have achieved remarkable accomplishments, Gladwell uncovers the hidden patterns and circumstances that shape their achievements. This thought-provoking book offers a fresh perspective on success and encourages readers to reconsider their understanding of talent and achievement.

Who should read Outliers

Individuals seeking to understand the factors behind extraordinary success.

Entrepreneurs and business professionals looking for insights on achieving greatness.

Students and educators interested in exploring the psychology of success.

Topics in Outliers

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Outliers Summary

Summary of outliers by malcolm gladwell.

What You'll Learn

Introduction

When you look at successful people, there are often multiple reasons as to why they are successful.

They themselves may attribute their success to “dumb-luck”.

However, that is rarely the case. Within his book, “ Outliers ”, Gladwell lays out the foundation concerning success, and how it can be reached in multiple ways, which include both things within and outside your control.

• Audible Audiobook
• Malcolm Gladwell (Author) – Malcolm Gladwell (Narrator)
• English (Publication Language)
• 11/18/2008 (Publication Date) – Hachette Audio (Publisher)

We will review three key points, including:

1) Our Culture celebrates they myth of the “Self-Made Man”

2) World-Class Mastery of anything demands around 10,000 hours of practice

3) If we recognize the reasons behind the uneven playing fields, we can create more opportunities for people to succeed

Lesson 1: Our Culture celebrates the myth of the “Self-Made Man”

The idea of a “Self-Made Man” is a very poplar myth.

When you take the time to break down the story of how someone became successful, it is more about the environment in which a person grew up in which makes the difference.

When you think of people who are the best within their fields, due to this “Self-Made Man” mentality, we like to think it is due to their innate talent.

This is often not the case, but rather a product of them being an “Outlier”.

Lesson 2: World-Class Mastery of anything demands around 10,000 hours of practice

When looking at people who are famous thru history, like Bill Gates or the Beatles, one key ingredient became obvious.

They became an outlier because they practiced for at least 10,000 hours before becoming masters.

When you break this down, it means 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year for 5 years.

Not everyone has this kind of time or opportunity, or the support system to make this happen.

For those who do, though, it is a great path towards having a world-class mastery of your talent.

Lesson 3: If we recognize the reasons behind the uneven playing fields, we can create more opportunities for people to succeed

There are many examples of this idea of an uneven playing field within our society, and they often can be traced back to a simple idea, which is a Cutoff Date.

This is especially relevant in sports.

For example, in Canada, the cut-off date for junior hockey teams each year is January 1st.

This means, a player who is born in late December is placed in the same level of kids who were born in early January of that same year.

In turn, this then means that they are playing against kids who are practically a year older than them.

One way to cut this out would be to have groups of kids, especially at an early age, who are clustered by their birth months.

If this can then be done for hockey, the possibilities are limitless, including other sports activities and school classrooms.

When the Singular Cut-Off date system starts at a young age, it can have a negative impact on a child throughout their entire school career.

This negative start can lead to them performing below their potential, which can cause their foundation to be less stable moving forward in life.

My Personal Takeaway

After spending some time with the book Outliers I must say it has given me some interesting perspectives upon success and the myths around it.

We give so much attention to the “self-made man” and praise them and call them lucky because of their successes and that they have great talents for what they do.

However, the book argues that often its just pure grit and hard work that make people achieve great things (as also discussed in our summary of Grit to Great ).

Did this summary excite you?

Book summaries are great , but I also really believe that you will not fully understand the book or the author without trying the real thing. Learn more about this subject by listening to the full book for free via Audible.

Put into Action

• Stop believing in the self-made man and talent. Great things can happened to anyone that put in time and effort into anything.
• Become an outlier by finding your call in life and master it.
• Think about how uneven playing fields affect people in your life, and see if you can change it to their advantage. No-one wants to be the worst player among the best.

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Turtles All the Way Down Book Summary & Spoilers, Explained

Here's a full summary and explanation of John Green's novel Turtles All the Way Down before the film adaptation releases.

Turtles All the Way Down follows a 16-year-old with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) investigating the disappearance of a billionaire and reconnecting with her childhood crush.

Starring Isabela Merced and directed by Hannah Marks, the romantic drama recently released its first trailer and is set to begin streaming exclusively on Max on May 2.

Before the film's streaming release, here's a full look into the Turtles All the Way Down novel, including a summary and ending explanation.

Turtles All the Way Down Book Summary

Turtles All the Way Down follows the story of Aza Holmes, a teenager dealing with OCD and intrusive thoughts focused on bacteria and illness. 

Aza's journey intertwines with the disappearance of billionaire Russell Pickett as she, alongside her friend Daisy, embarks on an investigation driven initially by the intrigue of a reward. 

Despite grappling with her mental health challenges, Aza finds herself drawn into a complex relationship with Davis Pickett, Russell's son, ultimately leading her on a path of self-discovery.

As Aza delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Russell Pickett's vanishing, her relationship with Davis becomes a focal point of the book, with key moments of vulnerability and romance .

Their connection is somewhat ruined by Aza's internal struggles, including her compulsive behaviors and fear of contamination, which complicates their attempts at intimacy. 

Despite the initial allure of the reward money, Aza's bond with Davis evolves beyond material interests, shaping her understanding of love, friendship, and identity while battling her mental health.

Turtles All the Way Down Ending & Themes Explained

During the concluding chapters of Turtles All the Way Down , Aza reflects on her journey. Despite her initial hopes for a swift resolution to Pickett's disappearance and her struggle to control intrusive thoughts, Aza confronts the slow pace of her progress. 

With Dr. Singh's guidance, she starts a new medication regimen, giving a glimmer of hope for her future.

As Aza resumes her daily life, she reconnects with Daisy over a picnic. She attempts to describe her perception of the world and her sense of being controlled by external forces. Daisy shares a tale about turtles stacked endlessly (wink, wink), which resonates with Aza's own understanding.

During a dinner at Applebee's with Davis, Aza acknowledges her fear of bacterial contamination, which prevents her from having physical intimacy. Despite their mutual affection, Aza realizes the challenges of their relationship and the limitations due to her condition.

Later at an art show in Pogue's Run tunnel, Aza experiences a moment of revelation, linking the location to Russell's potential fate. She later shares her idea with Davis, who grapples with the effects of his father's demise.

After a month, Aza learns Russell's body was found but reassures Davis she and Daisy didn't report it. Davis reveals he and his brother called in the tip anonymously. 

Later, Davis visits, giving Aza a painting and informing her of his move to Colorado. Reflecting on the gesture, Aza's perspective shifts to a future version of herself, contemplating the unknown journey ahead. 

She acknowledges the inevitability of life's ups and downs, expressing faith in her resilience as an individual. This moment marks a turning point for Aza as she embraces the uncertainty of the future and recognizes her strength in the face of adversity.

Turtles All the Way Down explores big questions about who we are, especially when dealing with mental illness like Aza's. 

Aza's existential crisis goes beyond typical adolescent struggle as she grapples with the fundamental notion of her existence and battles with intrusive thoughts. 

Additionally, the story highlights disparities in privilege, power, and wealth among its characters, offering a nuanced portrayal of socioeconomic dynamics within the story's framework.

Author John Green spoke to The Guardian about the need to counteract the romanticization and stigma surrounding mental illness, particularly OCD, in his novel:

"I do think we stigmatise mental illness a lot in our culture … we don’t devote nearly enough resources to its treatment so people who can’t afford or access high-quality mental healthcare are doubly disadvantaged. I also think that we at times romanticise mental illness – the reason I wanted Aza to be nicknamed Holmesy is that, while I love Sherlock Holmes, my experience has been that my OCD would make me a terrible detective."

Drawing from his personal experience with OCD, Green mentioned how it can be "disabling" at times and at other times "a pretty small part of [his] life:"

"There have been periods when this has been a disabling part of my life and there have been periods when this has been a pretty small part of my life."

In the end, Green said the point of Turtles All the Way Down is to show how "most people with chronic mental illnesses also live long, fulfilling lives."

The film adaptation of Turtles All the Way Down begins streaming on Max on May 2.

LATEST NEWS

Screen Rant

Disney's tower of terror movie may suffer from scarlett johansson's new $6 billion franchise role.

Scarlett Johansson's latest franchise role means that those rumored plans for her Tower of Terror movie may be on hold for a long time at Disney.

• Scarlett Johansson's involvement in Jurassic World 4 may delay Tower of Terror adaptation indefinitely.
• Tower of Terror faces potential delays and uncertainty due to Johansson's focus on Jurassic World franchise.
• Tower of Terror movie's future remains unclear as Scarlett Johansson prioritizes bigger franchise opportunities.

While Disney’s Tower of Terror movie was announced a few years ago, another franchise hiring its star Scarlett Johansson may hold up the project. Adaptations of Disney’s theme park rides have provided the studio with some major financial successes over the years, but not all these projects have been so lucky. The Pirates of the Caribbean series is one of the most popular franchises of all time, but both 2021’s Jungle Cruise and 2023’s The Haunted Mansion failed to replicate its success upon release. The poor performances of these adaptations may have impacted Disney’s planned Tower of Terror movie .

In 2021, plans for a Tower of Terror adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson were first announced. According to outlets like Bloody Disgusting , the movie would reportedly be penned by Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley and directed by Taika Waititi. Tower of Terror ’s movie adaptation risks repeating the worst mistakes of 2023’s starry The Haunted Mansion reboot, but the involvement of these major talents seems to bode well for the movie. That said, there has been no movement on the project since plans were first announced in 2021, and Johansson’s upcoming blockbuster role casts doubt on its potential to move forward.

Tower Of Terror Won't Be Scarlett Johansson's Priority If She's In Jurassic World 4

The jurassic world reboot will take precedence for the a-list star.

While Universal has not yet announced Johansson’s casting in the upcoming Jurassic World 4 , this development has been heavily reported by The Hollywood Reporter , Deadline , and other trade outlets. Since Jurassic World 4 has a July 2025 release date, Johansson will likely be filming the movie for a good chunk of 2024. Johansson’s Jurassic World 4 role would shape her year and limit her involvement in other projects , meaning Tower of Terror will spend another year on the back burner. To make matters worse, the star will most likely spend some of 2025 doing Jurassic World 4 reshoots and press.

Jurassic World 4 is both a huge movie and the revival of a series that has been incredibly financially successful, but critically maligned. Johansson’s high profile means she will replace Chris Pratt as the face of the franchise, meaning she will be front and center when it comes to Jurassic World 4 ’s promotion. Jurassic World 4 ’s post -Dominion reinvention of the series means that Tower of Terror will not only be delayed for most of 2024, but its promotion could result in months of further delays throughout 2025. By that stage, its announcement would be four years old.

Jurassic World Would Give Scarlett Johansson A Bigger Franchise Than Tower Of Terror

Tower of terror is a riskier investment than the reliably popular series.

While the Pirates of the Caribbean series might be huge, other movies based on theme park rides have struggled. Especially after the failure of The Haunted Mansion reboot, there is no guarantee that Tower of Terror would work. While it would be exciting to see Johansson try her hand at a family-friendly horror comedy, Jurassic World 4 is a sure thing in comparison to the theme park movie . Jurassic World 4 would also likely give her a big franchise with multiple movies going forward. This could both guarantee career stability and, unfortunately, remove focus from Tower of Terror even further.

Since Jurassic World 4 is a new era for the franchise, Johansson has the opportunity to headline an already massive series. In contrast, Tower of Terror may fail as a standalone movie and, even if it succeeds, might not spawn a subsequent series. While Pirates of the Caribbean did lead to a string of successful sequels, it is worth noting that the ride adaptation was a historical action-adventure franchise. In comparison, as a horror-comedy story, Tower of Terror is much more similar to The Haunted Mansion , which never gained any sequels in 2003 or 2023.

Will Scarlett Johansson's Tower Of Terror Movie Still Happen?

Tower of terror may still happen but the project seemingly isn’t a high priority.

While Tower of Terror is still in development and its latest updates were positive, the project is taking a very long time to get going. Tower of Terror has a lot of exciting potential , but the fact that the project’s director, star, and writer haven’t been formally announced almost three years after its plan was originally discussed isn’t particularly promising. Johansson’s busy slate is exciting for fans of the actor but it doesn’t bode well for Tower of Terror specifically, particularly when the superficially similar The Haunted Mansion was an expensive misfire.

If Tower of Terror does happen, it looks increasingly likely that the project will need to work around the Jurassic World franchise’s plans. That blockbuster series will be Johansson’s primary priority for the foreseeable future, but this doesn’t mean that there won’t be room for Tower of Terror on her slate. That said, even the most optimistic forecast would predict that Tower of Terror won’t arrive for quite some time, judging by Scarlett Johansson’s current career plans.

Jurassic World 4

TV & Movies

The Ripley Book Ending Features A Scam For The Ages

In Netflix’s new series, social climbing turns deadly.

It’s been 25 years since Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Matt Damon starred in the psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley — and now, there’s a new spin on the story about an Italian sojourn gone wrong.

Like the film before it, Netflix’s new limited series Ripley is based on the 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, as well as the series of novels as a whole (there are five!), the streamer notes. But don’t expect the new adaptation to echo the vibe of the Oscar-nominated film. Series creator Steve Zaillian told IndieWire that he wanted to convey the “quite sinister and quite dark” tone of Highsmith’s novel. “I just couldn’t imagine that taking place in a beautiful Italian setting with bright blue skies and colorful outfits and things like that,” he explained.

Wondering what to expect? Here’s The Talented Mr. Ripley book ending and plot summary to refer to as you watch the 1960s period thriller.

A Mysterious Visitor

Herbert Greenleaf wants his son, Dickie, to return to the United States after living in Italy. He asks Tom Ripley to travel there and encourage him to come home. He thinks Tom and Dickie are old friends, but they barely know each other at all. But Ripley is a con artist, so he’s able to play along.

He travels to Italy on the Greenleafs’ dime and meets Dickie and Marge, who are living together. Ripley quickly gets close to the couple. Too close. Dickie is especially disturbed to find Ripley wearing his clothes and imitating his host in the mirror.

Later, Ripley and Dickie take a trip to San Remo together. It’s here that Ripley realizes he’s no longer in Dickie and Marge’s life. His anger and obsession culminate in a fateful boat trip, in which Ripley beats Dickie to death with an oar.

Ripley’s Cover-Up

As he’s a con artist, Ripley quickly puts a plan into place. He stages a story about Dickie choosing to travel to Rome alone, instead of returning to Marge in the town they lived together. He even writes to Dickie’s parents as their son, to update them about his whereabouts (and keep getting their money).

However, Ripley’s killing doesn’t stop there. He also murders a suspicious friend of Dickie’s, Freddie, and this rouses police suspicion. But the police, Dickie’s parents, and Marge ultimately come to the conclusion that Dickie planned to die by suicide.

Ripley, in an especially bold move, even writes to the Greenleafs to say he found their son’s will — and Dickie left everything to Ripley. And they buy it. At the end of the novel, Ripley decides to continue with his travels now funded by his dead friend’s fortune.