Malcolm Gladwell

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Malcolm Gladwell Does a 180 on Trans Athletes

Tipping Point author now says he was 'cowed' into offering his support for them, feels 'ashamed'

(Newser) - Three years ago, Malcolm Gladwell made an appearance at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, where he moderated a panel that discussed a "path forward for the inclusion" of transgender athletes in sports. Now, the 62-year-old Tipping Point author is flipping that narrative, revealing on a podcast this week...

Practice Makes Perfect? Maybe Not So Much
 Practice Makes Perfect? 
 Maybe Not So Much
new research
Jul 15, 2014 6:42 PM CDT

Practice Makes Perfect? Maybe Not So Much

Paper downplays the significance of practice over raw talent

(Newser) - Macklemore may have put in his 10,000 hours , but maybe the rest of us shouldn’t bother—or at least some of us. A new paper disputes the significance of practice over talent, claiming that although practice is important to master a skill (a theory interpreted and defended by...

Now on Chipotle Cups: Stories by Famous Writers

Jonathan Safran Foer spearheads project

(Newser) - Jonathan Safran Foer. Toni Morrison. George Saunders. Michael Lewis. Malcolm Gladwell. They're some of the most famous authors working today, and now they're lending their prose to, of all things, fast-food packaging. Starting today, cups and bags at Chipotle Mexican Grill will come adorned with text from one...

Judge Gives Ecoterrorist Reading List for Jail

Including a book by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell

(Newser) - It's an unusual case, and it resulted in an unusual sentence. Former ecoterrorist and fugitive Rebecca Rubin got sentenced to 5 years in prison for her crimes in the 1990s, reports the Oregonian . The unusual part is that the judge also ordered her to read two books while behind...

Non-Golfer Will Practice 6 Years, Try to Turn Pro

All to test 10,000-hour theory of greatness

(Newser) - In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the notion that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great at something. Portland's Dan McLaughlin is testing the theory in a remarkable way: The 31-year-old quit his job in June 2009 and devoted himself to practicing golf six hours...

Biased? Harvard Wants to Know

Web test tries to suss out implicit prejudice via picture exercise

(Newser) - Do you have a subconscious love of gays—or hatred of white people? There's an app for that. Actually, it's a website that's part of a study by Harvard, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington. “Project Implicit” gathers personal information, then puts you through a 15-minute...

Dog Fighting, Football Share Brutal Similarities

We despise one and love the other. But willful injury is inherent to both

(Newser) - Malcolm Gladwell is serious when he asks the question, in the New Yorker, whether football is really any different from dog fighting. He doesn't just mean that both inflict grievous injury to combatants—though the brain damage sustained by football linemen takes considerably longer to kill them—but that there...

Wall Street Lives, Dies by Overconfidence: Gladwell

(Newser) - Confidence is key to the banking game, but an overabundance of it seems to have made the industry’s titans so delusional they blundered into the financial crisis, Malcolm Gladwell writes in the New Yorker. “The roots of Wall Street’s crisis were not structural or cognitive so much...

Anderson vs. Gladwell: The Battle Over Free

Anderson's new book sets off old-school journalists' feud

(Newser) - Chris Anderson's new book, Free, examining the repercussions the Internet trend of bringing costs to zero, triggered a mini-war with Malcolm Gladwell, who lambasted him for arguing that "the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels." In the London Times, Antonia Senior does...

Writers Hail Message From a 'Prince'

Inaugural address praised as masterful use of language

(Newser) - Barack Obama's inaugural address showed a literary mastery of language, assorted authors tell the Los Angeles Times. The president's plain speaking and restraint is commended, along with his use of "we" instead of "I." Author Ted Wilmer hails the president's use of "tight language, short sentences...

Gladwell on Success: It's About Luck

Journalist-guru's latest book is 'closest to his heart'

(Newser) - Journalist and pop guru Malcolm Gladwell brings other people's big ideas to the masses, and in that way, “I’m a parasite,” he says. In his new book, the author takes modesty to a new level, crediting his success—which, by the way, manifests itself in a $4...

The Moral-Hazard Myth
The Moral-Hazard Myth
Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT

The Moral-Hazard Myth

Why Our Insurance Systems Doesn't Work

(Newser) - Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, examines the premise underlying U.S. health insurance known by the Dickensian term: Moral Hazard. The theory of Moral Hazard describes the notion that insurance can change peoples’ behavior. Without deductibles, co-payments and other barriers to use, people will use too...

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