Malcolm Gladwell’s Latest

I like a lot of Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, especially his first book, Tipping Point. But he’s drawn critics in recent years. They level charges such as oversimplifying research conclusions, missing the nuances conclusions of academic papers, and the like. Here’s a good review in USA Today that explains why Gladwell’s work generates a lot of criticism and how to approach both Gladwell’s work and his critics. It also is a review of Gladwell’s latest book, David & Goliath.

Let’s face it: If Gladwell did not do the heavy lifting, nobody would read that obscure peer-reviewed paper full of funny graphs. Maybe he occasionally gets stuff wrong, but the goal is to get average folks thinking more critically about how human behavior works, then we as a society are better off. (For instance, his example of the advantage of attending one’s safety school uses this cool statistical technique called a “regression discontinuity design,” whereby you compare two otherwise identical subjects, but one gets the treatment — e.g. getting into Harvard — and the other doesn’t, and then map their trajectories post-treatment.)

What bothers me about Gladwell is not that he overstates his thesis, describing as “laws” what really are informed hunches. What bothers me is that his contrarian style has overtaken the editorial offices of both popular and academic publications. Thanks to Gladwell, if everybody zigs, you should zag. Everything that makes it to print now has the feel of a Freakonomics meme: The world is flat, or junk food and video games are good for kids. Pick your unconventional wisdom, give it a catchy title and wait for the speaking engagements to pile up.