Jason Cleave
Review books by one of the most inspiring authors of our time.
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling.
"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics.
Starred Review* Gladwell's best-sellers, such as The Tipping Point (2000) and Outliers (2008), have changed the way we think about sociological changes and the factors that contribute to high levels of success. Here he examines and challenges our concepts of "advantage" and "disadvantage" in a way that may seem intuitive to some and surprising to others.
Gladwell's fourth book comprises various contributions to the New Yorker and makes for an intriguing and often hilarious look at the hidden extraordinary. He wonders what... hair dye tell[s] us about twentieth century history, and observes firsthand dog whisperer Cesar Millan's uncanny ability to understand and be understood by his pack.
"In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to singular talent as exists today." (New York Times Book Review)"Gladwell's real genius is as a storyteller. He's like an omniscient, many-armed Hindu god of anecdotes: he plucks them from every imaginable human endeavor."
The title says it all. It's from the New Yorker! It's about dogs! It has a foreward by hot author Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, 2008)! And, of course, it has wonderful cartoons! This marvelous collection of essays, stories, short humor pieces, drawings, poems-and cartoons-could not have come from any other source but the New Yorker.
Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential?
