YourLifeUncommon

My Mom is the QUEEN of book groups! She is well known in our town for her fabulous Book Groups, some of which have been going for 20 or so years! That's impressive!

One of the things I looked forward to, with the whole move back to Utah, was joining one of her groups. This coming Wednesday will be our first get together. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, is the book we will be discussing. Non-Fiction is not a norm for the "BookEnders", however, they thought they would break tradition for this book. Have you read it? It is pretty interesting!

I have to say that I LOVE the idea of an Outlier. It really runs parallel to the idea of living a Life Uncommon. Malcolm describes an Outlier as: "A scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience." He explains different theories on a lot of different areas. One of my favorite concepts is when he is talking about a Jewish family coming to the US around the time of WWII. They are a minority, and everything points to them struggling and failing. However, they rise above and fight hard. They refuse to be "the norm" and fall into ranks. They want better and they are willing to go for it. In the process they teach their children to do the same. Their children teach their children and so forth. Out of this Jewish couple that hoped for more comes great grandchildren that are some of the most influential attorneys and doctors today. They became who they are not in spite of their great grandparents, but because of them and their sacrifice and desire for more. I loved that!

 There are definately things in the book that I love and things that I will give an "interesting" to. It totally makes me think. Overall I love the purpose Malcolm had in writing this book. In an interview he said,

"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." 

If you are in or around Pleasant Grove, UT and would like to join the "BookEnders" or would like to hang out with us on Wednesday night to discuss this book, we will be at the Pleasant Grove Library at 7pm Wednesday night!

For more info about upcoming books click HERE, then click on the "BookEnders Book Club" link.

If you are a reader, check this one out. Ryan has read "Tipping Point" and "Blink", both by Malcolm and he said both are great. "Tipping Point" is definately next on my list...I mean, after I finish FableHaven #3 (which is SERIOUSLY awesome!).