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Malcolm Gladwell | New York Times Bestselling Author & Podcast Host
Personal blog · gladwell.comculturescience
Malcolm Gladwell | New York Times Bestselling Author & Podcast Host is a personal blog at gladwell.com about culture and science. Since 2007, 145 different Hacker News readers have linked it 172 times, most often “Are smart people overrated?”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Sometimes recommended · 11 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Gladwell's essays as sources on topics such as Enron, late bloomers, talent and drug patents, and recommend his New Yorker pieces and books as worth reading.
- Recommended for · 11 comments
- Called excellent, even-handed, a good piece and worth reading; others say interesting, thought-provoking and a very good book.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Explore Malcolm Gladwell's podcast and books, including his latest New York Times Bestseller, The American Way of Killing.
Most-linked posts?
- Are smart people overrated?8 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2008-04-30
- Black Swans - unexpected movements in financial markets.8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2008-03-17
- How entrepreneurs really succeed (2010)6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2010-06-14
- Million-Dollar Murray: Homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2010-08-06
- Gladwell: Getting In, The social logic of Ivy League admissions4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2007-11-01
- Startup Inspiration: The Formula, Malcolm Gladwell.4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2007-08-24
- Rice Paddies and Math Tests4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-04-28
- The Ketchup Conundrum4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2015-04-17
- /2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2009-06-02
- Million Dollar Murray: Why homelessness may be easier to solve than manage3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2015-07-16
What Hacker News says?
Reminds me of http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_08_21_a_choking.html (specifically, paragraph 7)
Comment linking /2000/2000_08_21_a_choking.html
on “Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning”Submitted The sociology of drinking as a story · 219 points
HN discussionIn 2008, Gladwell wrote an excellent article on this same topic: http://www.gladwell.com/2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html An excellent quote from the article: "The Cézannes of the world bloom late not as a result of some defect in character, or distraction, or lack of ambition, but because the kind of creativity that proceeds through trial and error necessarily takes a long time to come to fruition."
Comment linking /2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html
on “Late bloomer, not a loser. (I hope) ”Submitted Xerox PARC, Apple, and the truth about innovation. as a story · 129 points
HN discussionApologies in advance for the Gladwell link, but he's likely referring to Enron's "star system": http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm
Comment linking /2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm
on “No, I still don't want to work for Google”Submitted Million-Dollar Murray: Homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage as a story · 91 points
HN discussion"I am saying that the older programmers who are downvoting me are feeling nervous." That is an interesting conclusion. "Since you mention data so much, I am curious, have you ever read "Fool of Randomness" by Nassim Taleb?" No, however many folks have suggest that Gladwell's article on him [1] covered all the bases in the book. So I did take a moment to read that article. I think he brought a fascinating perspective…
Comment linking /2002/2002_04_29_a_blowingup.htm
on “It's official: developers get better with age. And scarcer. ”Submitted Gladwell: Getting In, The social logic of Ivy League admissions as a story · 86 points
HN discussionThis article was posted here before ( http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html ) and suggests homelessness might be a power-law problem. Ordinary people who are homeless because of everyday misfortune don't stay homeless for long and don't contribute to the homeless problem--chronically homeless people, many of whom are either mentally ill or mentally adapted to life on the street, are the biggest part…
Comment linking /2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
on “What happens when you give homeless people a prepaid credit card. ”Submitted Are smart people overrated? as a story · 55 points
HN discussionIt is called "creeping determinism" or simply hindsight bias. http://www.gladwell.com/2003/2003_03_10_a_dots.html
Comment linking /2003/2003_03_10_a_dots.html
on “Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it”Submitted Trust No One: Kim Philby and the Hazards of Mistrust (2014) as a story · 41 points
HN discussion"If lots of [employees] are flocking to a new business unit, that's a good sign that the opportunity is a good one. . . . If a business unit can't attract people very easily, that's a good sign that it's a business Enron shouldn't be in." - Jeff Skilling, former president of Enron http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm Contrast that with the Facebook approach: "Resourcing for projects is purely volunta…
Comment linking /2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm
on “How Facebook Ships Code”Submitted Rice Paddies And Math Tests as a story · 41 points
HN discussionUnfortunately the problem is that they work too well. Every time they are legalized in a limited capacity they are abused in professional sports. The effect is massively amplified if you give women drugs because they don't have testosterone levels like men do. Those records that were set in the 70's pre-testing will likely never be broken. The issue is that if it is legal, there is a huge incentive to take it to an…
Comment linking /drugstore-athlete/
on “Testosterone is the drug of the future”Submitted The Art of Failure (2000) as a story · 39 points
HN discussionThis reminds me of that article by Malcolm Gladwell about Cézanne and Picasso. Picasso is depicted as the visionary who revolutionizes artistic expression in his teens and Cézanne is a painter who struggles his entire life and doesn't achieve a breakthrough until he is much older. It might provide context to a discussion like this: http://www.gladwell.com/2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html Yet, I wonder if achievem…
Comment linking /2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html
on “I'm turning 30 and I've produced no amazing art.”Submitted Gladwell, on creeping determinism as a story · 36 points
HN discussionNexium is a patent extension of Prilosec. In order to patent Nexium, they had to alter the chemical structure and run clinical trials to show that Nexium was an improvement over Prilosec. Some critics argued that the trials inflated the differences. IIRC, when some generic drug makers tried to sell generic versions of Nexium, AstraZeneca sued them and won. Malcolm Gladwell, covered this and other issues affecting ph…
Comment linking /2004/2004_10_25_a_drugs.html
on “Judge Posner: U.S. patent system out of sync”Submitted Black Swans - unexpected movements in financial markets. as a story · 35 points
HN discussionLong article about the invention of DDT and it'sssubsequent use and misuse. http://www.gladwell.com/2001/2001_07_02_a_ddt.htm
Comment linking /2001/2001_07_02_a_ddt.htm
on “A Low-Tech Mosquito Deterrent”Submitted What I.Q. doesn't tell you about race as a story · 31 points
HN discussionAha, I found it: http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
Comment linking /2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
on “My son is schizophrenic. The ‘reforms’ that I worked for have worsened his life.”Submitted Big and bad as a story · 30 points
HN discussionIf you haven't read Malcolm Gladwell on Rice Farming and math you really should give it a look: http://gladwell.com/outliers/rice-paddies-and-math-tests/
Comment linking /outliers/rice-paddies-and-math-tests/
on “U.S. Team Wins First Place at International Math Olympiad”Submitted The Ketchup Conundrum as a story · 17 points
HN discussionIs it unreasonable to think that if someone has put in ten thousand hours into a general field such as programming (across various languages, as opposed to just focus on one language) that there are enough general principles to extrapolate for them to be considered an expert programmer? Is your argument against Gladwell's idea (not really even his idea) that the professions he site has too many sub-components that u…
Comment linking /1999/1999_08_02_a_genius.htm
on “PG's Rarely Asked Questions”Submitted The Science of Shopping (1996) as a story · 15 points
HN discussionI'm with you on the research process. I find that what appeals to most users doesn't appeal to me, which means that even customer reviews have to be carefully read to determine what was actually positive and negative. In NYC, for instance, I never trust people who say the staff were rude - staff are typically rude if you're rude to them. Regarding preferneces, read Gladwell's essay - The ketchup conundrum - http://w…
Comment linking /2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html
on “Just buy this one”Submitted The Physical Genius as a story · 15 points
HN discussion
