Gladwell, Malcolm

Malcolm Gladwell was born in the city of Farham ( Hampshire , UK ). His father is Graham Gladwell, an Englishman, an honorary professor at the University of Waterloo ( Ontario , Canada ), and his mother, Joyce, has Jamaican roots and works as a psychotherapist ^[3] . In 1969, she published her book, Brown Face, Big Master. According to Malcolm Gladwell, it was his mother who became an example for him to follow ^[4] .

At the age of six, the Gladwell family moved from the UK to Canada ^[5] . At school, Malcolm demonstrated success in sports - running in the middle distances . In 1978, he won the championship, which was held among schools in Ontario ^[6] . In the spring of 1982, he enrolled as an intern at the National Center for Journalism in Washington ^[7] . In 1984, received a diploma of historian at Trinity College at the University of Toronto ^[8] .

Malcolm Gladwell began his career as a journalist in The American Spectator ^[9] . He later wrote for Insight on the News, an edition of the Unification Church founded by Moon Song Myung ^[10] .

In 1987, he came to work for the Washington Post . Subsequently, he headed the New York bureau of the newspaper, where he worked until 1996. He is currently a full-time author of The New Yorker .

His books The Tipping Point and Illumination have become international bestsellers. Gladwell received $ 1 million for "Tipping Point" - more than two million copies of the book were sold in the United States alone ^{[11] [12]} . The book “ Illumination ” was also sold in large numbers ^{[11] [13]} . His third book, “Geniuses and Outsiders,” was released on November 18, 2008 ^[14] . His last book, “ What the Dog Saw, ” was published on October 20, 2009. It collected his best articles, which he wrote as the author of The New Yorker ^[15] .

The authoritative business publication Fortune called “The Tipping Point” “a captivating book that makes you look at the world from a completely different perspective,” and the San Francisco Chronicle called it “one of the most anticipated documentary works.” [15] [16] ^{[16] [17]} The Daily Telegraph called it “a surprisingly unusual study of such an obscure phenomenon as a social epidemic” ^[18] . Stephen Pinker writes that Gladwell is a writer "extremely gifted ... He avoids hackneyed topics, simple moralizing and ordinary truths, encouraging his readers to think again and think differently. His prose is frank, complemented by intelligible explanations and gives the feeling that we are personally talking with experts ” ^[19] .

Reviewing The Insight , Baltimore Sun called Gladwell "the most original American journalist since the time of young Tom Woolf. " ^[20] Farhad Manju in Salon described the book as “a real pleasure. In the best traditions of Gladwell, “Illumination” is filled to the brim with amazing discoveries concerning our world and ourselves ” ^[21] .

The Economist called Geniuses and Outsiders "an exciting reading with an important message." ^[22] David Leonhardt wrote in a book review for The New York Times : “In the vast world of documentary literature, Malcolm Gladwell is an outstanding talent that exists today,” and “Geniuses and Outsiders” “make inventive theories ponder the days after reading it” ^[23] .

Baltimore Sun claims that the collection “ What the Dog Saw ” “does what he can do best — find the intersection of science and society to explain how we got to where we are now” ^[24] . Ian Semple wrote in the Guardian: “The book brings together the fragments that make up the brilliant evidence of Gladwell's art. There is the depth of his research and the clarity of his arguments, but the wide range of topics to which he addresses is truly impressive ” ^[25] .

Critics of Gladwell usually emphasize that he is a journalist, and his work does not meet the high standards of academic literature. For example, he is accused of using logical tricks and cognitive bias. Critics believe that his methods of selecting examples lead to imprudent generalizations and a violation of the causal relationship between events ^{[26] [27] [28]} . In one review of Geniuses and the Outsiders, Gladwell was accused of instilling “racist pseudoscience” and using separate examples for hasty generalizations about race and class status ^[29] , and the other, published in The New Republic , called her last chapter "Impervious to all forms of critical thinking." Gladwell is also criticized for using random disparate facts and a general lack of accuracy in his approach. ^{[31] [32]}

Maureen Weaver and Stephen Pinker ^{[19] [33]} question the integrity of Gladwell's approach. Even paying tribute to the writer's writing talent, Pinker describes his attitude to Gladwell as “a supporting genius who inadvertently demonstrates the dangers of statistical argumentation” and accuses him of “choosing the best stories, casual sophistry and false dichotomy”. Pinker accuses the writer of a lack of experience ^[19] : “When the writer’s education regarding the subject is that he interviews experts, he will be inclined to make generalizations that are banal, stupid or false.”

The Independent accuses Gladwell of exposing “obvious” discoveries ^[34] . The Register accuses Gladwell of weak argumentation and claims that he “has an aversion to facts” and “made a career by delivering simple and empty truths to people, clothed them in flowery turns and impressionistly adding a scientific method.”

• Malcolm Gladwell. The Tipping Point: How Little Things can make a Big Difference . - Back Bay Books, 2002 .-- 301 p. - ISBN 978-0316346627 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking . - Back Bay Books, 2007 .-- 320 p. - ISBN 978-0316010665 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. Outliers: The Story of Success . - Little, Brown and Company, 2008 .-- 309 p. - ISBN 978-0316017923 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures . - Little, Brown and Company, 2009 .-- 432 p. - ISBN 978-0-316-07584-8 .
• Gladwell, Malcolm. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants . - New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2013 .-- ISBN 978-0-316-20436-1 .

Translations into Russian

• Malcolm Gladwell. David and Goliath. How outsiders defeat favorites = David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. - “Alpina Publisher” , 2014. - 266 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-4589-3 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. Tipping point . How minor changes lead to global change = The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. - “Alpina Publisher” , 2010. - 256 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1145-4 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. Inspiration. The Power of Instant Solutions = Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. - “Alpina Publisher” , 2010. - 254 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1110-2 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. Geniuses and outsiders: Why is one everything and nothing else? = Outliers: The Story of Success. - Alpina Business Books , 2009. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1001-3 .
  Malcolm Gladwell. Geniuses and outsiders. Why is one everything and nothing else? = Outliers: The Story of Success - United Press, 2010 .-- 264 p. - ISBN 978-5-904522-25-4 .
• Malcolm Gladwell. What the dog saw. About pioneers, background geniuses, late talents and other stories = What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures. - “Alpina Publisher” , 2010. - 400 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1399-1 .

• Translations of M. Gladwell's articles from The New Yorker Magazine
• Gladwell Malcolm at Business Times
• Translation of M. Gladwell's article on business risk