Malcolm T. Gladwell, CM (born September 3, 1963) is an English-Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has written four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), a collection of his journalism. All four books were on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Gladwell's books and articles often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences and make frequent and extended use of academic work, particularly in the areas of sociology, psychology, and social psychology.
Gladwell's books and articles often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences and make frequent and extended use of academic work, particularly in the areas of sociology, psychology, and social psychology.
Find more on his Wikipedia page here.
You can find his website here.
I believe Gladwell's book Outliers to be one of the finest and most accessible pieces of nonfiction I have ever read; however, even someone as popular and educated as Gladwell is subject to criticism from those even more educated. Consider the following from Steven Pinker on Gladwell's research methods:
Steven Pinker has challenged the integrity of Gladwell's approach. Even while praising Gladwell's attractive writing style and content, Pinker sums up Gladwell as "a minor genius who unwittingly demonstrates the hazards of statistical reasoning," while accusing him of "cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies" in his book Outliers. Referencing a Gladwell reporting mistake, Pinker criticizes his lack of expertise: "I will call this the Igon Value [sic] Problem: when a writer's education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong."
Despite these criticisms, which are likely warranted, I still recommend Gladwell to everyone and anyone who will listen. I believe his success at popularizing nonfiction more than makes up for any generalizations in his writing and/or research.
You can find his website here.
I believe Gladwell's book Outliers to be one of the finest and most accessible pieces of nonfiction I have ever read; however, even someone as popular and educated as Gladwell is subject to criticism from those even more educated. Consider the following from Steven Pinker on Gladwell's research methods:
Steven Pinker has challenged the integrity of Gladwell's approach. Even while praising Gladwell's attractive writing style and content, Pinker sums up Gladwell as "a minor genius who unwittingly demonstrates the hazards of statistical reasoning," while accusing him of "cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies" in his book Outliers. Referencing a Gladwell reporting mistake, Pinker criticizes his lack of expertise: "I will call this the Igon Value [sic] Problem: when a writer's education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong."
Despite these criticisms, which are likely warranted, I still recommend Gladwell to everyone and anyone who will listen. I believe his success at popularizing nonfiction more than makes up for any generalizations in his writing and/or research.