It's a great piece of fiction. As LA Review of Books put it, "The only issue is that Gladwell’s account doesn’t withstand serious scrutiny. " And that, in a n

It's a great piece of fiction. As LA Review of Books put it, "The only issue is that Gladwell’s account doesn’t withstand serious scrutiny. " And that, in a nutshell, is the problem with Gladwell - he's a great story teller, and the only issue is that he pretends they are true. (When he either made them up, or he just really didn't understand the problem) Gladwell is in many ways an incorporation of all that's wrong with journalism. Writing for effect, focused exclusively on drawing eyeballs in. Yes, he's successful at it. Yes, you could learn from him, but you're always in danger of accidentally learning that style trumps substance.