Outliers summary shortform introduction outliers is a collection of stories each exploring a variety of external factors that contribute to success gladwell tells these stories through the lenses of various disciplines including history sociology and psychology some have critiqued gladwells work claiming it lacks academic rigor. 15 september 2013 on book summaries this is the second llb book summary on a malcolm gladwell book we previously summarized tipping point his books are proving consistently thought provoking outliers the story of success is about people who achieve extraordinary success in a variety of fields from scientists to rockstars and the complex . Outliers by malcolm gladwell is a book that explores the difference between the successful and unsuccessful and the reasons behind the difference between the two in his book the outliers malcolm is determined to explain different factors that influence the mastery of success an outlier is anything that is outside what is expected