Comments on: Malcolm Gladwell is Often Wrong http://thoughtbasket.com/2009/09/15/malcolm-gladwell-is-often-wrong/ A place to hold my thoughts on various topics Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:28:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: More on Tipping Point Flaws | Thoughtbasket http://thoughtbasket.com/2009/09/15/malcolm-gladwell-is-often-wrong/#comment-637 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:32:09 +0000 http://thoughtbasket.com/?p=304#comment-637 [...] scenarios through various computer models of societies. Most interesting, and most daggerly through Malcolm Gladwell’s theoretical heart, is that no matter what sort of connection scheme the researchers put in their [...]

]]> By: Are Successful Religions Just Lucky? | Thoughtbasket http://thoughtbasket.com/2009/09/15/malcolm-gladwell-is-often-wrong/#comment-604 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:10:42 +0000 http://thoughtbasket.com/?p=304#comment-604 [...] hypothesis of religious randomness is based on the work of Duncan Watts, a sociologist who I’ve mentioned before, in the context of showing that Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point theory of “influencers” is [...]

]]> By: clarely http://thoughtbasket.com/2009/09/15/malcolm-gladwell-is-often-wrong/#comment-226 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:14:25 +0000 http://thoughtbasket.com/?p=304#comment-226 Well said! I’ve finally gotten around to reading Blink and I’m thoroughly underwhelmed. I enjoyed The Tipping Point, but funnily enough my favorite part of the book is the part that you, rightly, point out is irrelevant to most trends – Mavens and Connectors. I find it nifty, but it’s hardly the backbone of what makes trends take off or not.

Basketball is all Greek to me, so I can’t judge the current hoopla, but it doesn’t surprise me that Gladwell has gotten into trouble here. He’s a journalist, not a sociologist or psychologist, and while he draws on published studies, what he presents is all just theory, dressed up as fact.

I enjoyed reading this :)

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