Behind the growing Steven Pinker vs. Malcolm Gladwell feud (
Pinker criticizes Gladwell,
Gladwell snarkily replies) is a debate over the value of IQ, specifically, and intelligence, broadly, in success. Recent research has generally shown
little link between intelligence and success within fields, and that there are
multiple kinds of intelligences that drive achievement. On the other hand,
scholars of psychometrics claim the opposite, showing that
IQ at an early age can predict achievement, and
no amount of study will help.
Maybe everyone is right, with enough caveats.
posted by blahblahblah
on Nov 16, 2009 -
147 comments
Such are the contradictions that seem to riddle not just Gladwell's thinking but the thinking on Gladwell's thinking, and perhaps even the thinking on thinking on that, and it is precisely these slippery but substantive contradictions that have allowed Gladwell to tout his revolutionary "big ideas" without couching them in anything so mundane as a logical, well-supported or otherwise sound argument. Gladwell for Dummies.
posted by defenestration
on Nov 5, 2009 -
102 comments
Atticus Finch and the limits of Southern liberalism. An essay in the latest
The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell. "Atticus Finch is faced with jurors who have one set of standards for white people like the Ewells and another set for black folk like Tom Robinson. His response is to adopt one set of standards for respectable whites like Boo Radley and another for white trash like Bob Ewell. A book that we thought instructed us about the world tells us, instead, about the limitations of Jim Crow liberalism in Maycomb, Alabama."
posted by billysumday
on Aug 10, 2009 -
188 comments
Canadian-born New Yorkers Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell have
an eloquent conversation (MP3) about the nature of our eternally under-confident country. Gladwell quips early on that "those of you who are familiar with my writing will know that this practice of talking about X by discussing Y is my only rhetorical move."
Text (though not an exact transcript) is also available, as is
a report.
posted by dbarefoot
on Apr 17, 2008 -
27 comments
"You're really smart!" Psychologist
Carol Dweck says that praising a child for being smart only teaches the kid to avoid any effort that might fail. "When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don't risk making mistakes." Malcolm Gladwell chimes in with
his thoughts on the importance of being a smart kid, "What a gifted child is, in many ways, is a gifted learner. And what a gifted adult is, is a gifted doer. And those are quite separate domains of achievement."
posted by revgeorge
on Feb 13, 2007 -
218 comments
There's an excellent
two part dialog between
Bill Simmons and
Malcolm Gladwell on ESPN's Page 2 this week. The two cover a wide variety of topics such as writing, how a kid with no TV from the middle of nowhere in Canada can be a sports fan, the NFL, the economics of sports, and everyone's favorite NBA GM Isiah Thomas.
posted by togdon
on Mar 3, 2006 -
13 comments
Will Malcolm Gladwell's blog be as good as his
New Yorker articles and books? Will it be better? I'm always fascinated when "big name" people start blogging. Will he be interesting and personal, dry and professional, or will the blog crash and burn?
posted by cmaxmagee
on Feb 23, 2006 -
34 comments
How to think about prescription drugs. Malcolm Gladwell's latest piece in
The New Yorker
The emphasis of the prescription-drug debate is all wrong. We've been focussed on the drug manufacturers. But decisions about prevalence, therapeutic mix, and intensity aren't made by the producers of drugs. They’re made by the consumers of drugs.
posted by trharlan
on Oct 31, 2004 -
20 comments
Malcom Gladwell's got a new one in the New Yorker about a guy whose investment strategy positions him to profit from unlikely and scary random catastrophes like 9/11. Its' not on newyorker.com, but the story's
subject was kind enough to scan it and
post it.
posted by luser
on Apr 16, 2002 -
8 comments
