Outliers: The Story of Success

By Malcolm Gladwell.

(NY: Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group, 2008. 210 pp. $27.99, ISBN 978-0-316-0192-3)

You have read the stories about successful people – now it is time to read the story of success.

out-li-er \noun

1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body

2: a statistical observance that is markedly different in value from others is the sample

A year after publication Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” is still on dozens of best seller lists. This week it dropped to number two on the New York Times best seller list but even at our local Blockbuster (why does a dvd rental store have a best seller book rack?) it’s still in the top ten. Every airport book kiosk travelers passed by over the Thanksgiving holiday held “Outliers” and I suspect the same will be true for Christmas travelers as well. What is it about the story of success that has everyone “wanting to know?”

Perhaps our obsession with books about successful people is that we hope by reading their stories, some of their success will some how rub off on us. Self-made millionaires – we want to be one. An overnight success, we dream of the possibilities. Someone who “pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps …” we secretly think we have the chutzpah to pull it off. But are these “true stories” real?

The hypothesis of “Outliers” is contrary to every overnight success fantasy you have ever heard or hoped for. For Gladwell there are no self made men or women and no one pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps, not just because it’s a physical impossibility but because success is a group endeavor.

Beginning with hockey stars in Canada and ending with the very personal story of his grandmother Daisy in Jamaica, Gladwell takes us literally around the world and through time looking at success stories.

In between these you will enjoy his foray into the lives of Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and the heartthrobs of the 60s – the Beatles. The things that hold these stories together are the circumstances and contributions of the people around the outliers (the successes); they were in the right place at the right time with the support of the right people.

When I first read “Outliers” I was disturbed at the notion that success is so utterly dependent upon community and circumstance. I have always believed the “it takes a village to raise a child” concept, but still at heart I wanted to believe that someone completely disadvantaged by circumstance and birth could change their fortunes.

Gladwell completely destroys this myth so you may wonder why the book is still so successful. People don’t like having their hopes and dreams dashed, unless, that is, they are replaced with something better. Gladwell does give us something better.

In an interview about the book he contends, “When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances, and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds – and how many of us succeed – than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea.”

We as a society can control how we enable more people to succeed! The most astonishing example of this in the book is the chapter about airplane crashes caused by culture.

Yes, you read that right – but to find how they got that information from the black boxes you’ll have to read the book.

When the cultural problem was identified the corporations went to work retraining key people to act differently. It was expensive work. It met with heavy resistance, but it saved lives.

Is that more hopeful than a dream about bootstraps? This book reviewer says, “Yes!”

Geri Williams is a local book fancier.

The concert will take place at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20, at Lakeport's Clear Lake High School on Lange Street.

Brewer of CLPA, which underwrites the symphony, says he's aware that many local residents do not even know Lake County boasts one of the finest such orchestras in Northern California.

“Many people think they need to go to San Francisco or Santa Rosa for great symphonic music, when all they need to do is visit the Marge Alakszay Auditorium at Clear Lake High School on Dec. 20,” he said.

Parkinson has chosen a mostly-secular program of holiday favorites opening with a trio consisting of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland."

This will be followed by what is likely one of the most popular Christmas classics ever composed, "The Nutcracker Suite."

The 60-plus members of the orchestra will render all seven numbers of Tchaikovsky's fairy tale about Little Clara and her Christmas dreams – or are they dreams?

They are "The March of the Nutcracker," "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," "Trepak," "Arabian Dance," "Chinese Dance," "Danse of the Mirlitons" and "Waltz of the Flowers."

Returning to more contemporary music, Parkinson will then lead the orchestra through "Frosty the Snowman," "A Charlie Brown Christmas Medley," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas medley" and "March of the Toys" from the movie "Babes in Toyland."

After intermission it's the turn of Lake County's young people to show off their musical abilities starting with the sister-brother duo of Laura (fiddle) and Darin (cello) Smith playing a Christmas medley, followed by the CLPA Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Wes Follett with "Holiday Hoedown" – their own Christmas medley.

In what is becoming a symphony tradition, Conductor Parkinson will then provide a baton, which will be auctioned off with the winning bidder earning the right to use it in conducting the full symphony in a rousing rendition of "Stars and Stripes" by John Phillips Sousa.

The winning bidder may choose to delegate conducting duties to another person, perhaps an aspiring member of the CLPA Youth Orchestra, or even to Parkinson himself.

Popular jazz vocalist Paula Samonte will then join the orchestra in singing four more holiday standards, including "Christmas Time is Here," "The Christmas Song," "White Christmas" and "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow."

Following "Greensleeves" another Lake County tradition kicks in, with audience sing-a-longs of a medley of holiday favorites. Then comes Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" (complete with horse whinny and crack of the whip) and the concluding Hallelujah Chorus with the audience joining the orchestra in rendering Handel's music from "The Messiah."

"The Christmas concert is always a family favorite" Brewer says. "We encourage everyone to come and bring the kids.”

Admission for young people under the age of 18 is free. Admission for members of the general public is $20, and $15 for CLPA members.

For more information call Connel Murray at 707-277-7076.

Just released to DVD, “Food Inc.” raked in rave reviews when it made its theatrical tour last summer. In its review The Baltimore Sun described it with quiet wit as “illuminating and occasionally revolting,” which says a lot. If you would rather eat meat from steers standing ankle deep in their own excrement than see how they grow, this film is not for you.

The film’s title emphasizes that corporations have largely taken over the business of providing us with meat, grains and vegetables, because they make a lot of money at it.

When our food was provided by friendly local farmers we saw every Sunday in church, there was accountability. Seeds were not genetically modified, the veggies and animals were bred for health and tastiness, and they weren’t shipped half-way around the world. Now, with incentives from massive US government subsidies, all that has changed.

Most importantly, “Food Inc.” focuses on healthy, happy alternatives to the unhealthy status quo. Michael Pollan, author and mellow leader of the Slow Food movement, provides information and perspective. Joel Salatin, gleeful organic farmer, shows us how we can grow or buy healthful food for our families.

Warning to vegetarians: while this film is compassionate towards “food animals” it does not explicitly advocate avoiding meat. It does advocate for healthy and happy animals.

Our venue is the Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave. near Mullen in Clearlake. The date is Sunday, Dec. 13, and our doors open at 5:30 p.m. for snacks and socializing.

The film will start at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a five minute talk on the current threat to our right to buy vitamins and food supplements.

For more information call 707-279-2957.