Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is the only Gladwell book I've read, having been sucked in by its preponderance on best seller lists. However, despite its commercial success I found it really quite devoid of anything particularly new or insightful. I'll admit that my outlook was influenced by two events... First, I saw Mr. Gladwell on a television interview where he shamelessly summarized his success revelations. After reading the book, I realized I had learned nothing beyond what he covered in 15 minutes of verbal Q&A. Second, I had just finished reading Nicolas Nassim Taleb's "Black Swan", a much deeper assessment of how our evolutionary and neurological machinery is wired, which among many other insights points out that the more of an outlier the outcome, the greater the likelihood that pure chance vs. skill has been the underlying cause. Gladwell does acknowledge the role of chance, but his success formula comes down to this.... spend a lot of time doing what you want to be successful at, and be fortunate enough to be born in the right month in the right culture and the right era. Duhhhh. What makes his "research" particularly lightweight is that like many other success-formula writers, he only examines one side of the outcome equation. For example, to believe that the Beatles were successful because of the thousands of hours spent playing together, you must ascertain that the opposite outcome was not equally probable. In other words, where is the research that proves there weren't just as many rock bands who despite spending 3000 hours practicing and playing together ended up as commercial failures swept into oblivion? Those who have not already been seduced by the hype would be better served looking for richer thinking on the subject.