Malcolm Gladwell

OK, so Malcolm Gladwell's new book is out...and I was pretty fired up. I love Malcolm Gladwell, and I find everything he writes fascinating.

He's popular, so there has been some people coming out against him recently...being critical for over simplifying their academic work, or for his habit of coming up with catchy little names like thin slicing.

Which I guess explains why most academics aren't on the best seller list.

I guess I look at it this way. I find Malcolm Gladwell stimulating and interesting. I find his ideas to be easy to understand and relevant. That they are debatable only makes them more interesting.

When did this get to be a bad thing? I haven't reconfigured my entire life based on this writing. In fact, much of what he says is hard to apply, even in marketing.

But, I enjoy the act of reading his books. Is something wrong with that? He's filling the same part of my brain as Bill James did, and others, too. Interesting ideas that challenge the norm, and that get you thinking about the things you see every day and thought you understood.

A good thing.