# I like Malcolm Gladwell. Tell me why I shouldn't. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629 "2019-12-30T21:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/21 "2019-12-31T15:16:23Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’ve even played the game Gay, Black, Canadian, Jewish, or a Runner (don’t know, yes, yes, no, and yes). What the heck is that? I just Googled “gladwell game Gay, Black, Canadian, Jewish, or a Runner” and your post was the #1 hit. Nothing else that mentions this “game.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/22 "2019-12-31T18:51:59Z")
I was riffing on a game I saw on the Graham Norton Show, Gay or European, Canadians being our local equivalent of men of indeterminate sexual orientation. 😉 > **[‘Gay or European?’ – Graham Norton Wants to Know (Video)](https://leosigh.com/gay-european-graham-norton-wants-know-video/)** > >   Sometimes you just have to drag up a clip from a TV show a few years back, simply because it is that funny. Such is this video from a… Also seen in the musical Legally Blonde. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LN_L85b2zQ) In other words, it was a joke, son. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-CxX8nvLalE/hqdefault.jpg "I say it's a joke son!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxX8nvLalE) ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/23 "2019-12-31T18:59:21Z")
Gladwell appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, fans might find it interesting to hear him being the one interviewed. He’s quite engaging, as is Shepard. [Check it out](https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/malcolm-gladwell). ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/24 "2020-01-01T04:05:25Z")
[Major in The Universe](https://xkcd.com/863/) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/25 "2020-01-01T05:54:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Of his work, I have read only Outliers, and heard a couple of his podcasts. It is very entertaining and I’m sure that much of what he presented is based on facts, but I think he plays fast and loose with conclusions. Yes, I think I would like his books better if they were presented as a set of unrelated short essays rather than a set of short essays that are supposed to add up to a dubious conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/26 "2020-01-01T06:20:16Z")
> **[Major in the Universe](https://xkcd.com/863/)** > > I hear Steven Levitt is writing a book analyzing A.J. Jacobs' quest to spend a year reading everything Malcolm Gladwell ever wrote. The audiobook will be narrated by Robert Krulwich of Radiolab. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/27 "2020-01-01T06:45:10Z")
> [@jonesj2205](#): > > But my sense is it leans more towards anecdote than data. I agree. My experience with Gladwell is that he forms a theory, finds examples that fit the theory, and then presents the theory as a general principle. That’s not how it works. Let’s take his idea about David beating Goliath. Does it ever happen than an apparently weaker individual or group defeats an apparently stronger opponent? Sure. But the majority of times, the stronger individual or group beats the weaker one. If you cherry pick the rare exceptions to show David beating Goliath, you’re misrepresenting the reality of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/28 "2020-01-01T06:51:55Z")
I love the 10,000 hours analogy. Anecdotally, it holds pretty true IMHO and my kids are sick of me mentioning it. 🙂 The trial chapters at the end of his books are just that, test balloons. Take those with a giant grain of salt. But the actual core of his books seem solid to me. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/29 "2020-01-01T13:33:09Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > [Major in The Universe](https://xkcd.com/863/) > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [xkcd: Major in the Universe](https://xkcd.com/863/) I like **RioRico** ’s XKCD more than **Thudlow Boink** ’s. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/30 "2020-01-01T13:51:53Z")
I like him too and read most of his stuff, but he has an astonishing ability to jump to conclusions and quietly ignore the aspects of his subjects that don’t conform to his chosen narrative. Despite that he is still often insightful and occasionally witty. You just have to read him with a critical eye. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/31 "2020-01-01T15:10:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I like **RioRico** ’s XKCD more than **Thudlow Boink** ’s. I like [this one](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/863:_Major_in_the_Universe) better than either of them. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/32 "2020-01-01T15:53:10Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Not at all, at least the way I was fed it in elementary school. It was miraculous the way this little kid, much like us, bested a giant who scared all the grownups with what amounted to a toy. > . Well, your elementary teacher didn’t really do a good job then. Slings were weapons not toys. You don’t protect your herd with a toy. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/33 "2020-01-01T17:27:06Z")
This classic article by Steven Pinker does a good job of explaining some of the problems: [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/34 "2020-01-01T21:45:15Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > His argument that you can become expert at something by doing it for 10,000 hours, doesn’t that negate the role of innate talent? Some people are just naturally better at certain things than others. > > You can become fairly good at something with practice, but a lot of it is also just innate. I’ll never be a great mathematician no matter how hard I try because it doesn’t come naturally to me. Unless I misremember him, I felt that he was saying that even with talent it still takes 10,000 hours to become quite proficient at it. I will say that I did have mathematical talent but I still had to work at it to become a mathematician. 10,000 hours? I don’t actually know. What do you for those hours anyway? Time spent lying on a couch thinking about things, does that count? I enjoy reading Gladwell, but I find him a bit shallow. But he does get you to think. I don’t think you have be embarrassed because you read him. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629/35 "2020-01-02T04:09:27Z")
I’m not embarrassed, and most of the objections here I share. I was just making conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-malcolm-gladwell-tell-me-why-i-shouldnt/845629.md?page=1)