Malcolm Gladwell's new book goes on sale this Tuesday.

From the Q&A on his web site:

Q: What do you want people to take away from Outliers?

A: My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. 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.

From the Publishers Weekly review:

In Outliers, Gladwell (The Tipping Point) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered—the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena. His gift for spotting an intriguing mystery, luring the reader in, then gradually revealing his lessons in lucid prose, is on vivid display.

But who in this day and age believes that a high intelligence quotient in itself promises success? In structuring his book against that assumption, Gladwell has set up a decidedly flimsy straw man.

Recently, at the Abbeville Manual of Style:

We enjoyed Late Bloomers tremendously because it concerned two of our favorite subjects—artistic and literary excellence—but we also wanted to throw things at it, because the sound core of truth it contained was coated with an obscuring layer of inaccuracy and inexpertise.

Mildly irritating though all of this may be, it is Gladwell’s forthcoming book, Outliers, that truly threatens to exasperate.

Demystifying greatness can be as dangerous as romanticizing it.