4 ms·

Liar’s Poker wasn’t exactly a glowing review and drew on first hand experience. I think deep embed doesn’t necessarily mean puff. Getting in with Gladwell isn’t

by fhsm 4y ago

Liar’s Poker wasn’t exactly a glowing review and drew on first hand experience. I think deep embed doesn’t necessarily mean puff. Getting in with Gladwell isn’t a great sign but particularly now that the outcome is established I’d have been open to the idea of it being a good book.

tptacek 4y ago
I have much more respect for Gladwell.
- csa 4y ago
  > I have much more respect for Gladwell. Is it safe to say that the Gladwell bar is low and the Lewis bar is lower? They are both fantastic story tellers. Sadly, these stories more of than not seem to be creatively spun fiction (to be polite) more than anything else.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    I feel like Gladwell is saved by keeping most of his analysis confined to bland, abstract, business-friendly topics, while Lewis does something much more akin to traditional reporting. They are both frequently and flagrantly wrong, but Lewis's wrongness is more consequential. Also, Gladwell is a better writer.
- wglb 4y ago
  I was unable to finish "Tipping Point" as it was, in my view, a failed kindergarten-level attempt to explain Chaos, which was done so superbly in 'Chaos: Making a New Science' by James Gleick. That plus his howler about "Igon Value." A good storyteller, yes, but that is the limit.
  - kevinmchugh 4y ago
    The chapter in which "Igon value" appeared was originally published in the New Yorker with "eigenvalue" used correctly.
    - tptacek 4y ago
      Presumably because the New Yorker editors and fact checkers, who have a pretty positive reputation, caught and fixed it.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    I have a standing rule that anybody who mentions "Igon Value" to me gets a 3x3 matrix eigenvalue problem to solve, because I rather strongly suspect that most people (not you) who bring "igon value" up are trying to claim credit on the basis of little more than knowing how to spell the word. If I ever meet Pinker, bet your life that I'm going to bring up Gladwell to him. :) But yes: I don't have any faith in Gladwell's reporting. I just think he's a supremely effective writer, and that's interesting to me. He is, like, the Yngwie Malmsteen of his profession, maybe.
    - aptwebapps 4y ago
      If you're a reporter and a really good storyteller, which he definitely is, your reporting drive better be really, really good. At my most cynical, I would say that Gladwell writes non-fiction because it suits his style and makes for better stories, but that might be going too far.
    - justin66 4y ago
      > He is, like, the Yngwie Malmsteen of his profession, maybe. There is a comparison I would have never expected.
      - clusterhacks 4y ago
        The comparison feels just a bit off - like, Malmsteen's popularity rounds to zero, even in the world of 80's shredders aficionados. Gladwell has multiple best-sellers that are popular to general audiences. I think maybe a better comp would be someone like Reb Beach? Player with known technical chops but in a somewhat generally popular band that was not appreciated by guitar-store superheroes . . . Course, maybe not using an obscure hair-band reference would be better.
        justin66 4y ago
        The comparison is weirdly inspiring. I think just about the greatest thing ever would a biopic about the life of Malcolm Gladwell, somehow in the vein of both the fictional Weird: The Al Yankovic Story AND Julie and Julia, comparing and contrasting Malcolm Gladwell and Yngwie Malmsteen. (I have seen neither of these films) Like, what's the Gladwell equivalent of Yngwie as a youth getting kicked out of a band for trying to kill Graham Bonnet? Make something up. I bet it involves assaulting an editor! What's the fictional equivalent of Yngwie deciding he should sing? I bet it involves Gladwell deciding he doesn't need to talk to anyone who understands mathematics. Or maybe you could break the fourth wall and have Yngwie decide he is fully capable of playing Gladwell in the film, since how hard it can it possibly be, and he's already halfway there since they both have stupid hair.
pclmulqdq 4y ago
His track record isn't particularly great on the idea of "embedding" != puff piece. Flash Boys was a puff piece for IEX, Moneyball for Beane, The Big Short for several hedge funds, and the list goes on. He seems to pick up a skewed and biased perspective from people who don't have the full picture, and just run with it as though it is the full picture.

by fhsm 4y ago

tptacek 4y ago

I have much more respect for Gladwell.

csa 4y ago
> I have much more respect for Gladwell. Is it safe to say that the Gladwell bar is low and the Lewis bar is lower? They are both fantastic story tellers. Sadly, these stories more of than not seem to be creatively spun fiction (to be polite) more than anything else.
- tptacek 4y ago
  I feel like Gladwell is saved by keeping most of his analysis confined to bland, abstract, business-friendly topics, while Lewis does something much more akin to traditional reporting. They are both frequently and flagrantly wrong, but Lewis's wrongness is more consequential. Also, Gladwell is a better writer.
wglb 4y ago
I was unable to finish "Tipping Point" as it was, in my view, a failed kindergarten-level attempt to explain Chaos, which was done so superbly in 'Chaos: Making a New Science' by James Gleick. That plus his howler about "Igon Value." A good storyteller, yes, but that is the limit.
- kevinmchugh 4y ago
  The chapter in which "Igon value" appeared was originally published in the New Yorker with "eigenvalue" used correctly.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    Presumably because the New Yorker editors and fact checkers, who have a pretty positive reputation, caught and fixed it.
- tptacek 4y ago
  I have a standing rule that anybody who mentions "Igon Value" to me gets a 3x3 matrix eigenvalue problem to solve, because I rather strongly suspect that most people (not you) who bring "igon value" up are trying to claim credit on the basis of little more than knowing how to spell the word. If I ever meet Pinker, bet your life that I'm going to bring up Gladwell to him. :) But yes: I don't have any faith in Gladwell's reporting. I just think he's a supremely effective writer, and that's interesting to me. He is, like, the Yngwie Malmsteen of his profession, maybe.
  - aptwebapps 4y ago
    If you're a reporter and a really good storyteller, which he definitely is, your reporting drive better be really, really good. At my most cynical, I would say that Gladwell writes non-fiction because it suits his style and makes for better stories, but that might be going too far.
  - justin66 4y ago
    > He is, like, the Yngwie Malmsteen of his profession, maybe. There is a comparison I would have never expected.
    - clusterhacks 4y ago
      The comparison feels just a bit off - like, Malmsteen's popularity rounds to zero, even in the world of 80's shredders aficionados. Gladwell has multiple best-sellers that are popular to general audiences. I think maybe a better comp would be someone like Reb Beach? Player with known technical chops but in a somewhat generally popular band that was not appreciated by guitar-store superheroes . . . Course, maybe not using an obscure hair-band reference would be better.
      - justin66 4y ago
        The comparison is weirdly inspiring. I think just about the greatest thing ever would a biopic about the life of Malcolm Gladwell, somehow in the vein of both the fictional Weird: The Al Yankovic Story AND Julie and Julia, comparing and contrasting Malcolm Gladwell and Yngwie Malmsteen. (I have seen neither of these films) Like, what's the Gladwell equivalent of Yngwie as a youth getting kicked out of a band for trying to kill Graham Bonnet? Make something up. I bet it involves assaulting an editor! What's the fictional equivalent of Yngwie deciding he should sing? I bet it involves Gladwell deciding he doesn't need to talk to anyone who understands mathematics. Or maybe you could break the fourth wall and have Yngwie decide he is fully capable of playing Gladwell in the film, since how hard it can it possibly be, and he's already halfway there since they both have stupid hair.

pclmulqdq 4y ago

His track record isn't particularly great on the idea of "embedding" != puff piece. Flash Boys was a puff piece for IEX, Moneyball for Beane, The Big Short for several hedge funds, and the list goes on. He seems to pick up a skewed and biased perspective from people who don't have the full picture, and just run with it as though it is the full picture.