Malcolm Gladwell on Barack Obama the 'Outlier'

2015-01-04 34

Malcolm Gladwell on Barack Obama the 'Outlier'
City Arts & Lectures - City Arts & Lectures
Readers of Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker articles, reviews, and profiles know him to be an author of wide-ranging curiosity about the world and the way it works.His choice of subject matter ranges from the psychology of athletes in pressure situations to the salesman who masterminded the popularity of the George Foreman Grill.What sets Gladwell's writing apart is his use of research in fields such as epidemiology, behavioral psychology, and other social sciences.His ability to incorporate ideas from these fields in a manner that is both relevant and understandable makes Gladwell a unique, cutting-edge journalist.Malcolm Gladwell's first book, the best-selling The Tipping Point, examines the ways small ideas can spread in epidemic fashion when they reach a critical mass.His second book, the equally popular Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, explores the power of the trained mind to make split-second decisions.In his most recent work, Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell explores what makes the most famous and successful individuals different.Throughout the book, Gladwell's intelligence and fresh perspective synthesize divergent ideas in order to make a broader point about the way our culture works - City Arts & Lectures