The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
theregister.co.uk
The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
1–10 of 60 posts
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#2This article is kind of amusing, but it's clear the author didn't actually read Gladwell's newest book. While in general I think it'd be fair to describe Gladwell's writing as intellectual comfort food, Outliers is pretty good. The last chapter on KIPP was pretty dubious, but not in a way that detracted from the thesis.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#3This article is kind of amusing, but it's clear the author didn't actually read Gladwell's newest book. While in general I think it'd be fair to describe Gladwell's writing as intellectual comfort food, Outliers is pretty good. The last chapter on KIPP was pretty dubious, but not in a way that detracted from the thesis.
It was a lot better than I thought it'd be, and certainly better than Blink, but Gladwell seems to have this habit of using multiple anecdotes as data, which really bugs me. It's especially dangerous because he shifts between using empirical analysis to anecdotal-based logic.
I hope he doesn't turn in to Seth Godin.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#4Hmm. I can spot an Orlowski article from the title these days; he's made something of a career of detracting from popular organisations (Google, Wikipedia, etc.) and persons.
I dislike the approach partly from a distaste for the tabloid savaging of the successful but mostly because it seems to lead to rather thin regurgitations of existing critiques. I believe that is the case with this article.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#5This article is kind of amusing, but it's clear the author didn't actually read Gladwell's newest book. While in general I think it'd be fair to describe Gladwell's writing as intellectual comfort food, Outliers is pretty good. The last chapter on KIPP was pretty dubious, but not in a way that detracted from the thesis.
It was a lot better than I thought it'd be, and certainly better than Blink , but Gladwell seems to have this habit of using multiple anecdotes as data, which really bugs me. It's especially dangerous because he shifts between using empirical analysis to anecdotal-based logic. I hope he doesn't turn in to Seth Godin.
When Gladwell uses anecdotes he's not using them as data, but rather to give the facts an emotional valence.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was a lot better than I thought it'd be, and certainly better than Blink , but Gladwell seems to have this habit of using multiple anecdotes as data, which really bugs me. It's especially dangerous because he shifts between using empirical analysis to anecdotal-based logic. I hope he doesn't turn in to Seth Godin.
When Gladwell uses anecdotes he's not using them as data, but rather to give the facts an emotional valence.
But then he jumps to conclusions based on them and so do his readers.
A counter viewpoint: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/is-the-tipping-point...
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#7This article is kind of amusing, but it's clear the author didn't actually read Gladwell's newest book. While in general I think it'd be fair to describe Gladwell's writing as intellectual comfort food, Outliers is pretty good. The last chapter on KIPP was pretty dubious, but not in a way that detracted from the thesis.
I think The Register can be hilarious. I found that about a 6 out of 10, 1 being "oh my god that's so bad my ears are bleeding!" and 10 being "oh my god I laughed up a lung!". It just wasn't funny and like hell I'm reading like 6 printed pages worth of mildly amusing drivel.
Gladwell undoubtedly isn't the greatest scientific writer, he just points out that we have to think about things more than we do. The message I got was that on one hand organizations like the military don't act fast enough, while police officers are encouraged to think so fast that they stop reevaluating the situation.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#8It deserves an upmod simply for using the excellent word "plebs".
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#9I hate rants with misspellings. One I found was "breaktaking". I'm sure he meant "breathtaking". Get an editor, you twat.
Re: The dumb, dumb world of Malcolm Gladwell
#10I think it's so easy to critique someone's piece of work. But quite frankly, it's pretty petty and childish to openly bash an author with such an article.
If people like what he's saying, if people find that Malcolm resonates with their perception of reality, then all the better. It should be a personal choice as to what we find interesting and not interesting, rather than some omnipotent pundit at the "Register" dictating it to us.
I think that the author of the article is just jealous that he cannot personally derive anything of interest to say without belittling a colleague.