Gladwell's books are always interesting, and a fast read. I picked this one up in the evening and finished it by the next morning. That's my best indicator of an entertaining book.
His theme is simple: success goes to hard work & luck. Nothing profound about that, but it is always useful to remind ourselves. I love the examples of NHL hockey players, Termin's termites, Southerners with a Scotch-Irish ancestry and a culture of honor, airliner crashes cross-linked to PDI (Power Distance Index), and educational results linked to the rice culture. Lots of fascinating examples to hammer home the point. He doesn't try to establish one or the other factors as "dominant". He presents his exemplary cases and lets you see that old cliches like "genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration" or "success favors to the prepared mind" have already nailed the point he wants to make. But his 300 page book is a lot more entertaining than a pithy adage.
I especially enjoyed his last chapter where he traces luck and effort in his family history.
Update 2008dec21: Here is a David Brooks review of the book Outliers in his New York Times op-ed piece. And here is Malcolm Gladwell's thoughts about the Brooks review.
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