It’s time for the battle of the self-development book as we go head to head with two books who promise to give us “The story of success” and “How the best get better”. But can true greatness really be achieved by anyone and what makes someone so great that they lie so far outside of the ordinary? In the blue corner we have ‘Outliers’ and in the red corner we have ‘The Edge’. Ding ding, round one!

Kicking off in the blue corner of our book boxing ring, we have ‘Outliers’. Published in 2008 by Malcolm Gladwell (most known for his book, The Tipping Point), Outliers aims to explain why some people achieve so much more than others and to investigate whether there are commonalities that make some people lie outside of the ordinary. From professional athletes, to rock stars to billionaires, he aims to uncover where true greatness really comes from and if it is achievable for anyone of us. He goes to the corners of the world to identify who he believes truly represents greatness and what is it about their lives, personalities, skills that make them so statistically great?

Read more →