http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/books/18kaku.html ![[link]](http://s2.buzzfeed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png){kind=icon}
The New York Times has joined the Gladwell backlash with a review calling his new book: “glib, poorly reasoned and thoroughly unconvincing”.
Culture Buzz With his third book — Outliers — about to come out, the critics have sharpened their knives for the New Yorker staffer and his enormous afro. Has the superhero + free lunch model of success run its course for Gladwell? He says his new book is definitely not a self-help book.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fa...
Malcolm Gladwell’s new article in the New Yorker about genius and age is the talk of the web. The article’s based on the work of David Galenson, whose Old Masters and Young Geniuses is one of Kottke’s favorite books of the last few years.
Culture Buzz Malcolm Gladwell's new book is about success and the special characteristics of people who are successful. Speaking of success, Gladwell's massive book sales appear to follow a simple formula: Step 1: Tell stories about special people with magic powers. Step 2: Explain how the magic powers can make you rich or popular or smart with almost no effort. I like to call it the “superheros and free lunch” strategy - since his books are about remarkable people who get amazing results with almost no effort. We simply can't resist fantasies about superheros and free lunches! Gladwell's two massive bestsellers both promise that we can get something for nothing: The Tipping Point explains “How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference” and Blink shows us “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking”. Outliers is a big shift away from the superhero and free lunch formula. It is the most sociological of Gladwell's books - suggesting that society shapes people, that success is often accidental, and circumstances matter more than individual talent. That might be why the book is getting panned by critics. The New York Times review calls the book “Glib, Poorly Reasoned and Thoroughly Unconvincing”. The Gladwell backlash is in full swing, perhaps because people only like Gladwell when he is telling them about superheroes and get free lunches!
Politics Buzz Newsweek’s new online black webzine is calling itself “Slate for black readers.” The site is a one-stop shop for DNA ancestry mapping and Malcolm Gladwell thinkpieces.
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