Explaining gifted.

I read Outliers during the Christmas holidays. Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, has written a new book to explain successful groups of people. It turns out, success isn't as individual as I once thought. And it's not about being gifted. It's about getting opportunities to do something you love to do at the right time in your life where you can flourish for 10000 hours to get really good at it. The environment and time you grow up in also play huge roles. I am not telling you more and intentionally being elusive because this is yet another MUST read on my list.

Speaking of books, I have managed to get some books into the schedule. Here is the list:

1. Outliers - see above. Triple kick ass.
2. No time for goodbye - picked this up in Ireland. Fun suspense book but really meant for beach reading only. 1/2 an ass kick.
3. The sharper your knife the less you cry. Really fun read. About the famous Paris cooking school - le Cordon Bleu. True story. Makes you want to cook (ask axel about the week after I finished this book...stewed endives! apples and brussel sprout stir fry! chantarelle mushroom and asparagus saute! squash apple and yam soup! oh yeah, can you say inspiring!?! I cut my finger trying to add more vigour in my cutting of onions...not so inspiring). Triple kick ass.
4. Merde actually - yet another good read while you are living in France. If you haven't read A year in the merde, read it first. And when I first read the first book (a year in ...), I didn't quite get it. Now that I've lived here for a while, it makes french life make sense. And you do get obsessed with merde. 1 ass kick.
5. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. As a die-hard Potter fan, I saved this book to relish. It wasn't worth the relish. Cute if I was 7 years old. Now that I'm a bit older, really just boring. 1/4 ass kick.

If anyone knows of anyone wanting to do some trades, I'm in!!