Originally Posted by tnscouter
Originally Posted by ShaunRyan
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. Just finished The 33 Strategies of War, by Robert Greene.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Gladwell book when you're finished.

His book Outliers was brutal. My kids had to read it for school. It is not a book I would normally read since I could smell from a mile away the pop culture b.s. it contained, but I read all the books my kids read for school so I persisted. Sure enough the book did not disappoint.

It was a contrived parsing of anecdotal bits and pieces attempting to support his flimsy claims. My kids who read it saw through the thin veneer of wannabe scholarship immediately. I think Gladwell's true strength is fleecing the pockets of the psuedo-intellectuals who laugh at the New Yorker cartoons they don't understand and look down on the plebs they disdain.

Sorry to rip on Gladwell. Hopefully Blink is better. But my son was just raging about that book and the author the other day and what now gets passed off as scholarship. That book and its reception really bothered him and occasionally he just erupts with vitriol for that guy.

But to answer the OP's question I'm currently reading different articles and excerpts from books my one son is reading in college. -tnscouter

Not as harsh, but I've had a similar view of Gladwell. Quaint stories but misses obvious logical gaps. Can't remember if it was Blink or Outlier in which he discussed Ted Williams. Gladwell quoted a doctor who said nobody could see the stitches on the ball, so Ted was wrong. Gladwell didn't consider the possbility that maybe Ted had better eyesight than everyone else. I mean, compared to all the others who hit 400.