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Gladwell Weathers Gauntlet of Hype; "Difficult Third" Released Today
Filed under: Headline Shooter Tagged: books, Jason Zengerle, John Horgan, Malcolm Gladwell, Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais famously ended his two successful TV series, The Office and Extras, after the second season, saying of the third instance of anything successful, "It's going to get criticised whatever isn't it?"
Ah, very true. Starting today, Malcolm Gladwell's third book, Outliers, is available to the public. The early outlook is that he will survive his "difficult third" intact.
It is rare for a nonfiction book to enjoy this level of advance interest. Indeed, rival publishers are watching it carefully for signs of the health of the industry. In Jason Zengerle's profile from last week, a competing publisher was quoted as saying, "I don't care that it's Little, Brown's book. We all desperately need some good news."
Most of the reviews are positive, but nearly every reviewer makes a point of noting that Gladwell's thesis flirts with the obvious. Overall, interest and enthusiasm are high.
You can buy the book today, or, if your portfolio has taken a hit recently (I'm told such things happen), you can point your mouse at the following online resources.
Time Magazine profiles the author (profile pic is "rugged").
Newsweek won't let Time monopolize that sweet sweet hype.
The Guardian (UK) looks at "the man who can't stop thinking." (I remember an old Kurt Russell movie like that.)
Slate's Book Club takes up the book. (John Horgan likes this one more than The Tipping Point, of which he was notedly critical.)
Entertainment Weekly gives it an A. (The Tipping Point got a B+.)
Reader's Digest offers two brief but illuminating interviews. Gladwell says that he would not want his child to try to become the next Michael Phelps; I wish more people would say this sort of thing. Profile pic = "pensive," in front of a bizarre hand-drawn gallery of facial hair.
The Wall Street Journal has three items, including an excerpt with a baffling typo in the headline.
Other profiles:
USA Today
Independent (UK)
Other reviews:
New York Times (Michiko Kakutani; reg. req'd)
Boston Globe
CNET News
San Francisco Chronicle
Los Angeles Times
Salon
Financial Times (UK)
NY Daily News
There have been lots and lots of tweets recently.
And finally, now seems a good moment to revive two enjoyable New Yorker Conference videos: 2007 2008.
About us
Hello! We are media enthusiasts and culture addicts—not to mention classically trained (as we like to say) professional journalists. This is our collection of generally civilized conversations about magazines, movies, politics, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is currently written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. (Unsigned posts through October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.)
The site is designed and maintained by House of Pretty and illustrated by Jesse Ewing for Inkleaf Studio. Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (who also draws our daily comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The kissable Emdashes logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World; PDF, p. 20)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, man about town, and New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Report: Learning to read with comic books--that are edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
- Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
- Proposal: a better-designed Metrocard (for A Brief Message)
- Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Review: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Micro-essay: on saving time through inspiration (for A Brief Message)
- Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
- Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
- Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)
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