From a New York Times review:
The common thread in Gladwell’s writing is a kind of populism, which seeks to undermine the ideals of talent, intelligence and analytical prowess in favor of luck, opportunity, experience and intuition. For an apolitical writer like Gladwell, this has the advantage of appealing both to the Horatio Alger right and to the egalitarian left. Unfortunately he wildly overstates his empirical case. . . .Another reason books are better than e-readers: easier to gnaw.
The reasoning in Outliers, which consists of cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies, had me gnawing on my Kindle.
comments: 9
I notice that in the review Pinker trashes Gladwell for misusing the word "sagittal", but Pinker misspells it as "saggital". So nil-all at that point.
A nice demonstration of Muphry’s law. Thanks for pointing it out, Mike.
Google Books has 666 results for “saggital plane” and 2,830 results for “sagittal plane.” So “saggital” must be a pretty common misspelling. The OED shows only “sagittal.” When I have time later, I’m going to figure out what a sagittal plane is (and spend some time looking at your uke site).
Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittal_plane
A sagittal plane of the human body is an imaginary plane that travels vertically from the top to the bottom of the body, dividing it into left and right portions.
Complete with pix! Often used in anatomy class.
My husband bought a Sony reader (he researched it to death and decided that was the one for him) and he loves it, especially for reading on the bus while commuting. When you are stuck standing and hanging on to a pole on the bus, having a book that you don't have to hold open, where you can "turn" the page by pressing a button and where you can't lose your place, all using only one hand, is a real advancement.
I really like Gladwell (of course, he IS Canadian!). I'll have to go read your links now...
Thanks, Julia. I like the metaphor of the arrow.
I’ve read only Blink and wasn’t that impressed, though bits and pieces are fascinating and useful. I like Glenn Gould a lot more. : )
I like Steven Pinker's work a lot. I really enjoyed the Gladwell book that I read ("Crowds.") One thing that pushed me out of "higher" learning was the posturing and belittling. I'm glad I didn't read the review.
Two things I know for sure: I don't like Kindle and I do love Glenn Gould.
Gladwell responds.
Thanks for the link, Matt.
Pinker’s sources make me wonder just what’s going on here. The comments on Gladwell’s response take things into very strange territory.
Do you think Gladwell’s misspelling of Pinker’s first name — “It is always a pleasure to be reviewed by someone as accomplished as Stephen Pinker, even if . . . he is unhappy with my spelling” — a genuine mistake? It’s “Steven” just one sentence before that.
Caroline, I like Pinker’s The Blank Slate. Also your work. I dislike the nastiness that often comes into academic arguments. Pinker, I thought, was being very critical but not nasty.
By the way, “saggital” has been changed to “sagittal” in the Times article.
If one only reads Gladwell’s response, he/she might think that the debate between the two men mainly has to do with quarterback play. Strange territory indeed.
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