A long and slightly puffy profile from New York Magazine, but worth it. As for Malcolm Gladwell… he essentially writes glorified book reports, but good ones. The principle of writing everything he writes for popular consumption - articles, books, public talks - driven by the force of ideas and not celebrities or pulpy drama is something that makes me entirely hopeful. Other pluses: his hair is fantastic, and his talks are real entertaining (here’s one at TED on what spaghetti sauce can tell us about happiness).
I don’t always feel like I learn a lot from his repackaging of ideas, and I think the little phrases he coins are silly. But still, his New Yorker pieces certainly always give me something neat to talk about with friends—which he claims is his goal in the first place.
Via one Nick Ciarelli
