in: PG; PG > 2010-02-06;
| # Posted 2010-02-06 20:10:50 | |
| Spike: | I like the ideas he writes about. His first book was really good. Since then he's been a bit up and down, but I always take a look at his stuff because there is always an interesting idea of two. The first book - Tipping Point - took epidemiology and used it to understand things other than disease, like how trends spread. When I first picked it up, I was in the midst of learning about epidemiology, so I found it quite interesting and clever. |
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| # Posted 2010-02-06 20:59:12 | |
| j-man: | I, on the other hand, am not a fan. While I've written my own comments on Gladwell various places on my FB page or Visual Bookshelf, I won't subject you to those. Instead, I'll just refer you to a comment in my favorite publication.
Anyway, my succinct take on Gladwell: he writes nice stories but the "statistics" or "research" he proffers as a smokescreen to hide the lack of rigour in the analysis doesn't cut it. That said, I will readily admit his stuff is interesting and I've learned some things, but I find it wanting when it comes to logical force. |
| # Posted 2010-02-07 02:44:07 | |
| Spike: | I pretty much agree with j-man. I guess I don't necessarily expect analytical rigor from a journalist, so I'm not really disappointed. I'm happy with a few interesting ideas. |
| # Posted 2010-02-07 03:28:05 | |
| Cristina: | I thought Outliers was the most interesting of the bunch, and I also thought he had plenty of data for some of the ideas - like the birth month story. It's not like he's discussing rocket science, his explanations are simple and make sense. As for the other books, I'm with Spike. Interesting and entertaining. |
| # Posted 2010-02-07 06:03:38 | |
| feet: | It's seldom I cite Steven Pinker with approval, but here's his takedown: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pin...
Excerpt: An eclectic essayist is necessarily a dilettante, which is not in itself a bad thing. But Gladwell frequently holds forth about statistics and psychology, and his lack of technical grounding in these subjects can be jarring. He provides misleading definitions of “homology,” “sagittal plane” and “power law” and quotes an expert speaking about an “igon value” (that’s eigenvalue, a basic concept in linear algebra). In the spirit of Gladwell, who likes to give portentous names to his aperçus, I will call this the Igon Value Problem: when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong. ... The reasoning in “Outliers,” which consists of cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies, had me gnawing on my Kindle. Fortunately for “What the Dog Saw,” the essay format is a better showcase for Gladwell’s talents, because the constraints of length and editors yield a higher ratio of fact to fancy. Readers have much to learn from Gladwell the journalist and essayist. But when it comes to Gladwell the social scientist, they should watch out for those igon values. |
| # Posted 2010-02-07 07:04:02 | |
| Spike: | This is a pretty common criticism of just about everyone who has to deal with reporters:
...when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong. I'd say it is usually even worse when a reporter does nothing more than read an expert's writing. That's why those of us who deal with reporters need to work hard to get better and better at doing so. I guess the alternative is for scientists to be better writers and get the information out directly without having to deal with reporters. |
| # Posted 2010-02-07 20:26:22 | |
| j-man: | Oh yes--I read that NYT pillory also.
For better or worse, Outliers was the only one I read. But, I can't promise it will be the last. I read it because I was stranded in an airport and Boris had lent it to me. I read Fooled by Randomness when one of those conditions (stuck in airport) held. Then, after receiving a free copy of The Black Swan (probably from some hedge fund) I read it as well. Since I was able to down two NNT offerings, I think I can read anything without excessive gag reflex. |
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