Snooting about Gladwell has become a cottage industry (especially among
academics who know more, but don't write nearly as well). Here's an
interesting piece I read just the other day about Gladwell-bashing:
http://insidehighered.com/index.php/layout/set/print/views/2009/01/27/toor
I particularly like this bit: "Gladwell reminds me of the kind of
student I knew in college, the nerd who takes weird and arcane courses
and then rushes from the lecture hall excited about some idea the
professor has mentioned in passing and goes straight to the library to
pursue it himself. He stays up all night talking about it, and
convincing you that even though you were in the same class, and heard
the same reference, you have somehow missed something. Maybe not
something big, but at least something really, really cool."
Chris
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Michael Palij wrote:
There is an interesting (at least I thought so) review of Gladwell's
"Outliers" book in the current issue of the New Republic which
can be accessed at:
http://www.tnr.com/booksarts/story.html?id=66135ae4-d551-43d6-85aa-b80ddc3e281a&p=1
I am aware of Gladwell's popularity but I haven't read any of
his books (i.e., "The Tipping Point", "Blink"). I have read a
couple of his New Yorker pieces which left me unimpressed.
Apparently I'm not the only one as Isaac Chotiner points out
in his review some of the problems with Gladwell's style of
presenting info and manner of argument.
Didn't one of the major psych organizations (APA, APS) have
Gladwell as a speaker at one of their conventions? Anyone
attend? What was the reaction?
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
P.S. On a tangential note, I recommend the PBS "American
Experience" on J. Robert Oppenheimer whom Gladwell examines
in "Outliers". Does anyone remember a play entitled "In
Particular Men", I believe starring Stacy Keach, which was
also shown on PBS possibly in the 1970s? It was a dramatic
presentation of Oppenheimer's life, issues, and tragedy.
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