During winter break, as I was searching for a book to read, my teacher recommended Outliers: The Story of Success. It took me only a week to finish it, and I was completely enraptured by its story-telling techniques.

As the name indicates, Outliers is a non-fiction book about the stories of those who succeed. The author of this book is Malcolm Gladwell, the staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of The Tipping Point and Blink, and he weaves his viewpoints with interviews and outstanding narratives.

Outliers: The Story of Success aims to explain why some people succeed far more than others. The book is divided into an introduction, an epilogue, and two main parts. Part one is called ‘Opportunity,’ with each of the five chapters illustrating how some outliers seized opportunities to make their way to success, like the Beetles, Bill Gates, and Robert Oppenheimer. Part two is called ‘Legacy,’ containing four chapters and an epilogue that illustrate how legacy, mostly cultural legacy, helps someone succeed.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the story of a small Italian-immigrant town called Roseto in Pennsylvania, told at the beginning of the book. There was nothing fancy or special about this town, but Roseto citizens tend to live longer and die of old age rather than heart attacks. The weirder thing about this outlier town is that there is no obvious reason behind the longevity. Their diet is very common and lifestyles no better than others. The researchers gave up eventually and attributed the longevity to the town and the Italian culture itself. Another of my favorite chapters is The Trouble with Geniuses, which discusses the correlation between IQ and success. According to the theory explained in the chapter, the Threshold idea, there is a line, or a threshold of IQ scores, above which one is ‘good enough’ to succeed. This theory is both liberating and comforting: You do not need to be a genius to succeed; you only need to be good enough.

I found the recurring themes of family background, talent, and celebrities, and the persistent inquiries about what type of formula drive one to succeed, both fascinating and tedious. After finishing the book, I started to ponder whether there is a more progressive definition of success existing today. We all started from different background with different advantages and disadvantages. It doesn’t matter where we are today, but as long as we are making progress and improving ourselves every day, we are as successful as we can be.

Mr. Gladwell is a lauded writer, but the way he defines success is no different from those around me. Though he uses the word outlier to set these celebrities apart, they look similar than the role models in the news.  The author admits that it is difficult to copy the formula of success, but if you see success as a destination rather than a process, you will have an equally miserable time predicting or achieving it. Ultimately the value and viewpoint about success in the book is cliché and outdated. Success is not just about becoming wealthy, powerful, or famous. It is to become a better self, no matter where you are today. The overemphasis on material pursuit and status is, of course, a reflection of the belief system in society today. Mr. David Brooks calls it a "telos crisis," and some attribute the overwhelming psychologic issues of my generation to this culture of success. 

This book, while one of the best of its kind in telling success stories of some celebrities, is a testament of the conventional definition of success. The book reminded me that, our generation would not be free to pursue our own success unless we could accept the diverse and individual nature of its identity. Being a good father and son is equally successful as being a good CEO if one chooses to pursue this path. A contributing member to the community church is no less significant than an important taxpayer. I for sure would not let others define my own philosophy of success in life, and neither should you.