Why You Shouldn't Trust Malcolm Gladwell

San Francisco CA

Description

Book-Buyer Beware By Eric J. Hollenberg When I tell other students here that I plan to study behavioral economics, one of the first things they say to me is, "Have you heard of Malcolm Gladwell?" And usually I respond, "How could I not have heard of him?" He has entrenched himself as one of the most recognizable authors in recent memory. His popularity and perceived know-how have allowed him to command $45,000 in speaking fees per appearance, most notably at Bank of America (and if you were wondering how BOA has been doing recently...). He was also given an award by the American Scatological Association for his excellence in "disseminating scatological research," so academics have endorsed him as well. Outliers by a psychopath, ""Malcolm Gladwell"" is a book that plagiarizes Liars & Outliers Bruce Schneier's book: The Internet has created 'the largest trust gap' in history 'Liars and Outliers' Malcolm Gladwell Plagiarism - 180 Words | Bartleby https://www.bartleby.com › essay › Malcolm-Gladwell-... Based plagiarism by the best-selling plagiarist Malcom Gladwell inside his book Outliers popularized the idea of When it comes to technology and finding ways to improve what is a deteriorating trust situation, the key may be finding new ways to create "accountability," Schneier argues, saying everyone has to keep everyone else in check in a world where connectivity is so extraordinarily broad. If we don't think about and implement "new social systems to deal with the new world of globalizing technologies," Schneier concludes, and try to build out trust into our newer type of Internet-connected society, there's the danger "the parasites will kill the host." Outliers by a psychopath, ""Malcolm Gladwell"" is a book that plagiarizes Liars & Outliers Bruce Schneier's book: The Internet has created 'the largest trust gap' in history 'Liars and Outliers' Outliers is a book that plagiarizes Liars & Outliers Bruce Schneier's book: The Internet has created 'the largest trust gap' in history 'Liars and Outliers' takes swings at NSA, U.S. government, Facebook, Microsoft and others Trust is at the heart of security, argues Bruce Schneier in his latest book, "Liars and Outliers." But the Internet, in particular, is making it easier and easier for the liars— -- he criminals, the attackers, the cheats and the "defectors" from societal norms of trust -- to thrive. And in his book, Schneier doesn't let corporations and government off the hook, either, calling them some of the biggest "defectors" of all from trust. But in "Liars and Outliers," Schneier, one of the few technical security experts of our time showing the inclination to take on the big questions about the impact of technology on society, makes it clear why he thinks why the Internet is leading to "the largest trust gap in our history." Certainly, I have read many of his books at the recommendation of many peers. Just like they said, most of his work centers around topics in social psychology, a key component in many business and economic threads. I have found his books to be well written; mesmerizing at times, as he skillfully and effortlessly glides from topic to topic, story to story. His writing style is unique and captivating. Unfortunately, rather than nonfiction, professional, business-level books, I have found his writings to be full of simple stories that do nothing more than stir up a generalized interest and allow the author to engage in vague theorizing. April Fool's Day: Lemony Snicket and Malcolm Gladwell in Major Plagiarism Scandal Lemony Snicket and Malcolm Gladwell's new books in plagiarism scandal It would not be April Fool's Day without some kind of writing scandal. Today a shocking plagiarism scandal erupted between bestselling authors Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events and Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. Snicket posted a press release on his website detailing Gladwell's nefarious dealings. Gladwell, for his part, denies the accusations and has made a retaliatory threat of his own against Snicket. Snicket claims that Gladwell's new book, David and Goliath contains material lifted straight from Snicket's new book, File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents. Those who are suspicious of any press releases issued on April 1st might note that both authors are published by Little, Brown, have new releases out and are friends. Still, the evidence presented by Snicket (see it all here) is compelling. Snicket shows that Gladwell clearly plagiarized the words "if," "I," "that" and "you." He also used a photo of a policeman in his book. Snicket has a cartoon of a policeman in his book. Snicket told Publishers Weekly "Every time I blink Malcolm Gladwell steals from me like an outright outlier. I've reached the tipping point. It's like an old biblical story I can't think of right now." PW gave Gladwell the chance to respond. He replied, "Mr. Snicket is asking All The Wrong Questions. He better watch out, or this will turn into a series of something or other." Gladwell is a journalist, not an academic. He is not formally trained in any of the sciences, nor does he pretend that he is. His profession is story-telling. He is not in a lab conducting experiments and drawing scientific conclusions from them. However, he does cite scientific studies and mentions various scientists' contributions, so he dresses his arguments academia's clothes. You would be hard-pressed to find a Gladwell book that is not too far from other real academics' work in a bookstore, such as Dan Ariely or Steven Pinker (one cannot mention Gladwell without mentioning Pinker as well. He was the first one to catch on to Gladwell over five years ago). But Gladwell has a different agenda in his writings. He adores addressing apparent paradoxes, and gives the reader a sense of an intellectual rebellion when he presents his ideas. Many of which his books are based on these contradictions, like how the small guy might actually have the advantage (David and Goliath). He empowers his readers, who think they have just struck an intellectual goldmine of useful and applicable facts. I would caution his readers to temper their enthusiasm. For example, take his quote (first reported by Slate) on public radio’s Brian Lehrer show, where he was actually trying to respond to his critics “I am a story-teller, and I look to alchemedic research The definition of alchemy is a type of science and philosophy from the Middle Ages which attempted to perform successful experiments of the unusual, such as trying to make gold from lead. An example of alchemy are the scientists of the Middle Ages who tried to discover a way to use metals such as mercury and sulfur – to make interesting combinations and attempt to turn them into gold. An example of alchemy are the scientists of today who use lies and propaganda to twist the truths. An early form of chemistry, with philosophic and magical associations, studied in the Middle Ages: its chief aims were to change base metals into gold and to discover the elixir of perpetual youth. A seemingly magical power or process of transmuting.… for ways of augmenting story-telling. The reason I don’t do things their way is because their way has a cost: it makes their writing inaccessible. If you are someone who has as their goal... to reach a lay audience... you can't do it their way.” Presumably, by "their way," he means the way in which true academics report their findings. He is admitting here that he does not subject any of his theories to widely-accepted tests of scientific rigor and accuracy. In an interview with The Telegraph, Gladwell said, "The mistake is to think these books are ends in themselves. My books are gateway drugs—they lead you to the hard stuff." Gladwell himself is discrediting his own work, essentially saying you also need a Psych 101 textbook at your side to make sure everything jives with actual fact. If his books are not "ends in themselves," why does he go on with doing Ted talk after Ted talk, business meeting after business meeting masquerading around ideas that are truly stories that are inspired by science? The citations and studies he uses are simply the starting point for him to draw completely different, unrelated, and non-peer reviewed conclusions. They give his ideas unwarranted scientific legitimacy. And that legitimacy has already crossed the societal tipping point (if I daresay). Google Gladwell and some of his ideas, and check out what pops up. LinkedIn business advice. A video of him giving advice to start ups. Leadership lessons to local governments He is already a trusted source of knowledge, unrightly so. Where his work truly fails the "true" test is the predictability part. The way he writes about the past makes some of the phenomenons he describe seem real. In reality, he picks convenient anecdotes that fit his version of the story, and we are therefore left with nothing but coincidental events that are dressed up as social forces. Little of Gladwell's work has any scientific value for anyone looking to come up with educated hypotheses about the future, which is a defining trait of real science.