How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
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How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
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Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#2The Long Tail by Chris Anderson seems to fit the criteria extremely well. He must have figured out the MGB method before you.
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#3How 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.
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#4Well, 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?
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#5This article is very strange. It's pretty cynical about Gladwell but his details on him aren't all negative are they? Gladwell sure is good at telling stories and proving points! It has to be a formula. A formula of what pretty much equals good writing and research.
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#6He missed "get a funky haircut".
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#7This article is very strange. It's pretty cynical about Gladwell but his details on him aren't all negative are they? Gladwell sure is good at telling stories and proving points! It has to be a formula. A formula of what pretty much equals good writing and research.
Entertaining writing, maybe, but certainly not good/education writing. And certainly not good research.
Side note: He may have solid research, but it doesn't come out in the writing.
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#8How 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...
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#9How 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 for a major public policy decisions.
On a side note, I'd love to see this kind of breakdown for a lot of the shows on NPR, especially This American Life
Re: How to write a "Malcolm Gladwell Bestseller"
#10Gladwell 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 books are interesting, his anecdotes are carefully selected and edited. His conclusions are meant to spark conversation, not end them.
Lighten up.