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How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

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Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#21

Post by travem »

replicatorblog wrote: post #9
asdflkj wrote: post #3

How to read a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller": start in the middle; read 20 pages or so; see sloppy reasoning and general lack of substance; don't read it or any of the author's other books again. You'd save yourself a lot of time if you did that, jgrahamc.

The sloppy reasoning/lack of substance are features, not bugs. He isn't a serious intellectual gladiator, he is a merchant who makes soundbites that educated, upper middle class people can use to sound intelligent and well read. As long as people view them as such it is not problem. My frustration is when people cite Gladwell's ideas as either 1) the basis for strategic decision making at a business 2) the grounds fo…

As an interesting book countering the "blink" concept is a book called "Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye" - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416531556?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#22

Post by barry-cotter »

fgf wrote: post #8
asdflkj wrote: post #3

How to read a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller": start in the middle; read 20 pages or so; see sloppy reasoning and general lack of substance; don't read it or any of the author's other books again. You'd save yourself a lot of time if you did that, jgrahamc.

I enjoyed the debate between Gladwell and Steven Pinker after Pinker wrote a negative book review. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html... http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/malcolm-gladwe...

That's not a debate, that's a Pinker curb-stomping Gladwell, hardly surprising when Steve Sailer is entirely capable of doing it.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#23

Post by jamesbkel »

simplegeek wrote: post #4

Well, this may sound obvious to many but I think #1 should be "Become a regular reader of few psychological and social academic journals". I guess this alone can give you few ideas to write essays. Now my question is that, anyone know if journals of repute(related to psychological and social) can be accessed online?

The Society for Judgement and Decision Making has been publishing an online journal for about 4-5 years now. Very respected Editor and Assoc. Editors and certainly some interesting papers in there. http://journal.sjdm.org/

Also, I've found it useful to build a list of researchers whose work I find interesting, then trawl Google Scholar for them; this usually turns up some free sources that would be otherwise hard to find in the noise.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#24

Post by tokenadult »

efsavage wrote: post #10

Gladwell is a fantastic storyteller. Unfortunately, this isn't obvious to many people, who seem to think he's a scientist or a journalist, despite no claims on his part for these qualifications or assertions that his work stands up to the rigors of those disciplines. They have decided that he is one or both of these things, and since he isn't, he does not fare well when assessed along those lines. He writes very well…

His conclusions are meant to spark conversation, not end them.

Gladwell has said so explicitly in interviews:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122671211614230261.html

"Q: Do you worry that you extrapolate too much from too little?

"A: No. It's better to err on the side of over-extrapolation. These books are playful in the sense that they regard ideas as things to experiment with. I'm happy if somebody reads my books and reaches a conclusion that is different from mine, as long as the ideas in the book cause them to think. You have to be willing to put pressure on theories, to push the envelope. That's the fun part, the exciting part. If you are writing an intellectual adventure story, why play it safe? I'm not out to convert people. I want to inspire and provoke them."

After edit: On the general issue of easy best-selling nonfiction writing, both Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis are examples of conspicuous success. Both evidently work very hard at crafting their stories. If you think what they do is easy, try writing a book that gains as many willing, paying readers as any of their books.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#25

Post by tokenadult »

pavs wrote: post #17
efsavage wrote: post #10

Gladwell is a fantastic storyteller. Unfortunately, this isn't obvious to many people, who seem to think he's a scientist or a journalist, despite no claims on his part for these qualifications or assertions that his work stands up to the rigors of those disciplines. They have decided that he is one or both of these things, and since he isn't, he does not fare well when assessed along those lines. He writes very well…

I haven't read any of his books, though I got many recommendations from friends. Which one should I start with? (don't care much about relevance to startup/business, as long as its a good book)

Outliers is a good read that correctly represents a lot of new research about its subject.

After edit: I say this because I had read many of the primary and secondary sources cited in Gladwell's notes before his book came out. I still learned new facts from his book.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#26

Post by AlisdairO »

pavs wrote: post #17
efsavage wrote: post #10

Gladwell is a fantastic storyteller. Unfortunately, this isn't obvious to many people, who seem to think he's a scientist or a journalist, despite no claims on his part for these qualifications or assertions that his work stands up to the rigors of those disciplines. They have decided that he is one or both of these things, and since he isn't, he does not fare well when assessed along those lines. He writes very well…

I haven't read any of his books, though I got many recommendations from friends. Which one should I start with? (don't care much about relevance to startup/business, as long as its a good book)

I enjoyed Outliers. I liked the fact that, while the premise of the book is that the ultra-successful tend to have quite a lot of luck on their side, he never fails to mention that it also takes hard work/talent.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#27

Post by bl4k »

efsavage wrote: post #10

Gladwell is a fantastic storyteller. Unfortunately, this isn't obvious to many people, who seem to think he's a scientist or a journalist, despite no claims on his part for these qualifications or assertions that his work stands up to the rigors of those disciplines. They have decided that he is one or both of these things, and since he isn't, he does not fare well when assessed along those lines. He writes very well…

I find his anecdotes interesting, because I treat them as such. I think the conclusion and original thought that Gladwell wraps around these anecdotes and stories is often off-base or outright wrong.

If you are not familiar with it, here is the original critical review of Gladwell from the NYTimes that caused an ongoing stir (Gladwell responded on his blog):

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html...

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#28

Post by pwhelan »

barry-cotter wrote: post #22
fgf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed the debate between Gladwell and Steven Pinker after Pinker wrote a negative book review. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html... http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/malcolm-gladwe...

That's not a debate, that's a Pinker curb-stomping Gladwell, hardly surprising when Steve Sailer is entirely capable of doing it.

Having just read that, I wouldn't characterize it as "Pinker curb-stomping Gladwell"... at all.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#29

Post by mattmaroon »

efsavage wrote: post #10

Gladwell is a fantastic storyteller. Unfortunately, this isn't obvious to many people, who seem to think he's a scientist or a journalist, despite no claims on his part for these qualifications or assertions that his work stands up to the rigors of those disciplines. They have decided that he is one or both of these things, and since he isn't, he does not fare well when assessed along those lines. He writes very well…

I despise arguments of this nature. You hear them all the time. "Gladwell isn't a scientist and doesn't claim to be. Glen Beck isn't a politician and doesn't claim to be, he's an entertainer."

It's bullshit. The unstated claim is the basis of their success. Gladwell might not claim to be a scientist, but his success exists entirely because average readers can't tell the difference.

Gladwell uses "science" and "journalism" wherever it suits him and ignores them where it doesn't. He gets lots of professors and data and high quality sources to back up his points, even if the overwhelming majority of them point to the contrary. He tells "stories" that anyone with even a modicum of integrity would discover to be somewhere between tenuous at best and false at worst as if they're scientifically proven facts.

It's not ok to use science selectively. If you want to tell a story, tell a story. If you want to make a point and back it up with in-depth data and expert commentary, do that then. Either is acceptable.

But don't masquerade "stories" as pseudo-science and journalism. It's misleading, and disingenuous. He does write well, but what he writes is nothing more than dangerously convincing pseudo-science.

Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"

#30

Post by raganwald »

Getting away from criticizing or praising Mr. Gladwell, many, many authors have noticed that an effective way to write multiple best-sellers is to find a formula that works and stick to it. Michael Crighton is said to have read many best sellers and made notes about their structure so that he could develop his own formula for writing a best-selling novel.
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