Currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath and it's easily one of my favorites of 2013. The introduction - Gladwell explains what actually happened in the epic biblical battle of the same name - is revelatory and an unforgettable piece of literature.
Malcolm Gladwell may be too popular to be 'cool', but he's a master storyteller. Haters gonna hate.
Gladwell comes up so often here on Hacker News that I have a FAQ about him:
Malcolm Gladwell, who has said in an interview[1] that he writes to try out ideas, is good, while trying out ideas, at crediting his sources. Any reader of a Malcolm Gladwell book (as I know, from being a reader of the book Outliers) can check the sources, and decide from there what other sources to check and what other ideas to play with. Gladwell doesn't purport to write textbooks, but I give him a lot of credit for finding interesting scholarly sources that haven't had enough attention in the popular literature. He is equaled by very few authors as a story-teller who can tie ideas together in a thought-provoking assembly.
"Q: Do you worry that you extrapolate too much from too little?
"A: No. It's better to err on the side of over-extrapolation. These books are playful in the sense that they regard ideas as things to experiment with. I'm happy if somebody reads my books and reaches a conclusion that is different from mine, as long as the ideas in the book cause them to think. You have to be willing to put pressure on theories, to push the envelope. That's the fun part, the exciting part. If you are writing an intellectual adventure story, why play it safe? I'm not out to convert people. I want to inspire and provoke them."
No idea. I've asked the same question; I've read all of Gladwell's books (and essays on his site). I've enjoyed almost everything he writes. He's great at telling pop-sci stories. Most can be read in a sitting or two. Sometimes it's nice for your non-fiction to not read like a textbook.
But, apparently the HN crowd only reads Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and Hemingway.
I enjoy reading Gladwell's books, but recently I have seen information that means I need to stop regarding his books as non-fiction. Maybe a lot of his books should be sub-titled "Inspired by true events".
Malcolm Gladwell may be too popular to be 'cool', but he's a master storyteller. Haters gonna hate.