If there’s one thing that Malcolm Gladwell does best – it’s giving the reader a new way of seeing the world. He takes previously conceived and generally accepted ideas and flips them on their heads, leaving you in a jaw dropping state, questioning all the conventional wisdom you know.

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success the effect is no different. He takes the conventional knowledge of what we might consider an outlier to be, and redefines it. What the book ultimately sets out to do is shatter existing conceptions that surround success in society, by intelligently unpacking the stories of some of the most successful people in the world. What makes this book so compelling is his ideas and how he goes about explaining them. As one example, he brings up the idea of the triumph of hard work over natural ability, and in doing so, introduces the now infamous 10000 hour rule. He uses cases studies like The Beatles, Bill Gates, Bill joy and Bobby Fisher to emphasise his point.

Just when you thought you knew what was going in the world, Malcolm Gladwell will pop up and likely change your mind for the better. Gladwell has a host of other books to read, but we would say that within his library, this might stand out the first in a host of must reads – so put it on your list, trust us you wont regret it!