“If you aren’t successful, check your birthdate, lineage, and circumstances.”

I much preferred this book to Talking to Strangers.

I originally thought this to be a self-improvement kind of book, but quickly figured that's not the case, then maybe some sort of a business development one, which also fell apart quickly. I cannot round off this any closer than to some kind of a sociology - psychology combo.

The lessons of this book can be put into a brief sentence: success depends on a series of cultural and other factors that are mostly beyond your control – however, the thing that is totally within your control about success is how much effort you put in. And the more effort you put in, the more likely you will be successful. They are directly proportional and we should all praise work as the key thing that really makes us human.

I thought the book felt like it suffered from data mining in that there didn't seem to be enough exploration of other equally successful groups that may not have had the same advantages. But still a fascinating look at what kinds of things influence success, whether we think about them or not.