Why are some people successful? For centuries, humanity has wrestled with this question, searching for the secret behind great achievements. In this compelling new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on a refreshing intellectual journey to reveal what makes an extremely successful person. He demonstrates that we pay too much attention to the characteristics of successful people and not enough to their origins, such as their culture, family, and generation. Gladwell examines the correlation between the careers of Bill Gates and the achievements of world-class footballers, what elite fighter pilots and The Beatles have in common, why many top lawyers are Jewish, why Asians excel in mathematics, and why it's true to say that the mathematician who solved Fermat's Theorem is not a genius. As in "Blink," Gladwell refutes conventional wisdom and offers an entirely new perspective on the world. Brilliant and entertaining, this is a groundbreaking work that will both surprise and enlighten.