Comments on: Standing Ovation For Maureen Tkacik’s “Gladwell for Dummies”

By: Carson

Carson — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:20:36 +0000

I came across this post late (I read the essay back a while ago). If Gladwell is what you bring out the heavy artillery for, your life is a bit too safe. He’s an interesting story-teller — no one is forced to buy or read his books. Story-tellers have a power that is significant and, in that, concerning: human minds are influenced much more quickly by stories than statistics. It is the people doing statistics (Like “Moe” on finance) that are irritated at the large crowds the story-tellers draw. I like statistics — I have a phd in mathematical statistics and teach at a university — so I’m not very drawn to fiction or even story-telling, but I can’t see the “worth seven blog pages of invective” danger in Gladwell: look at him, look at the people who read him, at least they are reading and they could read a lot worse, or be watching reality TV. I think the piece is overdone — it sounds personal to me.

By: Carson

Carson — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:20:00 +0000

By: Bites: Gladwell is Analyzed, Zizek on Post-Communism, the “Weirdness” of Health Insurance, and more « Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:35:26 +0000

[...] Nation piece, “Malcolm Gladwell for Dummies.” HTMLGIANT’s Justin Taylor sees the essay as more than just a piece on Gladwell, but also “worth looking at…in light of [the] [...]

By: Gian

Gian — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:03:57 +0000

I love Moe. Talk about amphetamine-style. My nose even starts to drip when I read her.

By: Gian

Gian — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:03:00 +0000

I love Moe. Talk about amphetamine-style. My nose even starts to drip when I read her.