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Outliers
The new Malcolm Gladwell book.
And now for something not completely different: Here is Robert Mundell's hypothesis about Taxi Driver. And yes it is that Robert Mundell.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 19, 2008 at 08:37 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Darn it. Yet another technical word has been co-opted into the realm of the pseudo-intelligentsia. I suppose statisticians are going to have to come up with a new word for out-lying data points if they want to communicate with lay audience without connoting this bunk.
Posted by: Catlover at May 19, 2008 8:43:47 PM
Why is this is this guy given attention/thought anymore? I feel like he should be treated like Ben Stein, an embarassing and grotesque oversight by a solid publication that is courteously ignored by polite society.
Posted by: Greg at May 19, 2008 10:10:09 PM
Didn't someone already write this book? Wasn't it called "Fooled by Randomness"? I have the feeling his explanation for success is not the same (mostly luck), unfortunately .
Posted by: Cliff at May 19, 2008 11:00:53 PM
I presume Gladwell will (as usual) fail to offer a null hypothesis. Truly his work is utter bunk...
I second Cliff, Taleb is the master in outliers or black swans as he calls them.
Posted by: Stuart at May 20, 2008 9:46:28 AM
Gladwell writes better than Taleb.
Posted by: Andy at May 20, 2008 10:12:06 AM
And Linda Evangelista is better looking but I feel the substance is more important than the style...
Posted by: Stuart at May 20, 2008 10:34:30 AM
Aaaaaaarararrarararrararaagggghhhh!!! Another Gladwell book for the latte-sipping chinstroking pseudo-intellectuals.
Posted by: Varangy at May 20, 2008 12:21:17 PM
On the Taxi Driver post, the opposite of the proposed hypothesis is actually true, from what I've heard. The tax cuts were just phase one of Reagen's economic agenda, but he lacked the stamina to carry through more after he was shot.
Posted by: Ted Craig at May 20, 2008 12:53:31 PM
If Gladwell sold 1/10 as many books as he does, then most of his critics would regard him as a very interesting and thought provoking popularizer of neat ideas in the sciences and social sciences. At the least they would ignore him. But he's been very successful, which means that a lot of the "wrong" sorts of people read his books, and thus he must be scorned.
Taleb of course relentlessly kisses the asses of his readers (Oh the world is vain and foolish but you, gentle reader, have been initiated into the mysteries), and thus he's very popular with the misanthrope crowd. His actual ideas are trite, and only fill up books because his writing is bloated and repetitive.*
* I remember seeing a review of the Black Swan book on a blog when it came out and mistakenly assuming that it was written by someone who was just now picking up Taleb's first book. The description of the central argument was of course familiar to me from having read Fooled by Randomness a couple years back. Only later did I realize that indeed, Taleb had re-released substantatively the same book under a different name.
Posted by: sd at May 20, 2008 12:55:54 PM
Stuart, I disagree. I am perfectly capable of working out that most very rich/succesful people get where they are through luck all by myself. The value for me in reading books by the likes of Gladwell and Taleb is the entertainment and enjoyment that they give me, and reading Gladwell is definitely the more pleasurable experience.
Posted by: Andy at May 20, 2008 5:18:57 PM
I agree with "sd." "But he's been very successful, which means that a lot of the "wrong" sorts of people read his books, and thus he must be scorned."
God forbid "the public" reads about topics usually reserved for academics. And oh the horror that an author write well enough for people to at least get a grasp on the concept of an outlier or whatever the cherished sacred topic of academics might be. Even worse a student might read a "popular" book and decide to learn more about by taking stats or something with actual rigor. Oh the horror . . .
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