Outliers

A close friend recommended this book, saying it would match a lot of things in my life. I thought he was exaggerating until I got to the chapter on Bill Gates: a kid who, through a mix of luck and circumstance, had access to a computer at a time when almost nobody did, and racked up hours of practice before everyone else. I started programming at 12, and right there I found myself in a way I didn't expect.

Gladwell takes apart the idea of the self-made genius. He shows the birth dates of hockey players, the hours the Beatles spent playing in Hamburg, culture influencing even plane crashes. Success comes across as the result of opportunity, timing, culture and accumulated work, weighted differently in each case.

It made me humbler and more grateful at the same time. A lot of what seemed like my merit alone had context: access, people who encouraged me, the right time. I have a deep fondness for this book, more for what it made me think about my own story than for its accuracy.