Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996, and
is the author of five New York Times bestsellers - The Tipping Point, Blink,
Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath.
Family
Gladwell was born in Fareham, Hampshire, England. His mother is Joyce
Gladwell, a Jamaican-born psychotherapist. His father, Graham Gladwell, is a
mathematics professor from Kent, England. Gladwell has said that his mother is
his role model as a writer. When he was six, his family moved to Elmira, Ontario,
Canada.
Education
Gladwell's father noted that Malcolm was an unusually single-minded and
ambitious boy. When Malcolm was 11, his father, who was a professor of
mathematics and engineering at the University of Waterloo, allowed him to
wander around the offices at his university, which stoked the boy's interest in
reading and libraries.
During his high school years, Gladwell was an outstanding middle-distance
runner and won the 1,500 meter title at the 1978 Ontario High School
14-year-old championships in Kingston, Ontario.
In the spring of 1982, Gladwell interned with the National Journalism
Center in Washington, D.C.
He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Toronto in
1984.
Career
Gladwell's grades were not good enough for graduate school, so he decided
to go into advertising. After being rejected by every advertising agency he
applied to, he accepted a journalism position at The American Spectator
and moved to Indiana.
He subsequently wrote for Insight on the News, a conservative
magazine owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
In 1987, Gladwell began covering business and science for The Washington
Post, where he worked until 1996.
Gladwell started at The New Yorker in 1996 and gained popularity
with two articles, both written in 1996: "The Tipping Point" and
"The Coolhunt". These two pieces would become the basis for
Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, for which he received a $1 million
advance.
Now Gladwell continues to write for The New Yorker and he also serves as a
contributing editor for Grantland, a sports journalism website founded
by ESPN's Bill Simmons.
Works
Gladwell has written five books. When asked for the process behind his
writing, he said:
"I have two parallel things I'm interested in. One is, I'm interested in collecting interesting stories, and the other is I'm interested in collecting interesting research. What I'm looking for is cases where they overlap".
Book Title
|
Year
|
Summary
|
The Tipping Point : How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
|
2000
|
In this book, Malcolm Gladwell looks at why major
changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas,
behavior, messages, and products, he argues, often spread like outbreaks of
infectious disease. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the
flu, so too can a few fare-beaters and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime
wave, or a satisfied customer fill the empty tables of a new restaurant.
These are social epidemics, and the moment when they take off, when they
reach their critical mass, is the Tipping Point.
|
Blink : The power of thinking without thinking
|
2005
|
Blink is a book about how we think without thinking,
about choices that seem to be made in an instant--in the blink of an
eye--that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people
brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some
people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into
error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the
kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that
are impossible to explain to others?
|
Outliers: The Story of Success
|
2008
|
There is a story that is usually told about
extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and
ambition. Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different,
and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend
more time looking around them-at such things as their family, their
birthplace, or even their birth date. And in revealing that hidden logic,
Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most
of human potential.
|
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
|
2009
|
What the Dog Saw bundles together Gladwell's favorite articles from The
New Yorker since he joined the magazine as a staff writer in 1996. The
stories share a common theme, namely that Gladwell tries to show us the world
through the eyes of others, even if that other happens to be a dog.
|
David and Goliath: : Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
|
2013
|
Gladwell looks at the complex and
surprising ways in which the weak can defeat the strong, how the small can
match up against the giant, and how our goals (often cultural determined) can
make a huge difference in our ultimate sense of success. Drawing upon
examples from the world of business, sports, culture, cutting-edge psychology
and an array of unforgettable characters around the world.
|
Reception
The Tipping Point
- Named as one of the best books of the decade by Amazon.com customers, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, and The Times.
- Barnes and Nobles's fifth bestselling nonfiction book of the decade.
Blink
- Named to Fast Company's list of the best business books of 2005,
- Number 5 on Amazon customers' favorite books of 2005,
- Named to The Christian Science Monitor's best nonfiction books of 2005,
- In the top 50 of Amazon customers' favorite books of the decade.
Outliers
- Number 1 The New York Times bestseller for 11 straight weeks,
- Time's number 10 nonfiction book of 2008,
- Named to the San Francisco Chronicle's list of the 50 best nonfiction books of 2008.
Awards and Honors
- 2005 : Time named Gladwell one of its 100 most influential people.
- 2007 : American Sociological Association's first Award for Excellence in the Reporting of Social Issues.
- 2007 : Honorary degree from University of Waterloo.
- 2011 : Honorary degree from University of Toronto
Sources
