Oops...the Canadian hockey players example was in the first chapter of * Outliers,* not *Blink.***Sorry. Beth
On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Beth Benoit <beth.ben...@gmail.com> wrote: > Scott Lilienfeld said, "I’d like to gently push Beth a bit and ask her > why she believes that Gladwell’s books help readers to think critically." > I can see - and even largely agree - with some of the criticisms Scott made > about his writing. But I find Gladwell's out-of-the-box ideas often make me > metaphorically tilt my head with a "Huh...I never thought of it like that." > That's an important start to get people to think critically. It doesn't > trouble me (well, not too much) that he doesn't pursue every possible avenue > of explanation. In the first chapter of *Blink,* for example, he talked > about his observation that Canadian hockey players born in the early months > of the year have an advantage, and thus that most of the pros were born in > the early months of the year. Well, that sounded very cool, BUT when I > pulled up stats other than the ones he offered, I didn't see quite the > strong effect he found. But I used his article in class, and discussed his > finding. Students were very impressed until I then offered the stats from > other teams that didn't exactly validate his point. It was a good lesson in > not swallowing everything you read. But I couldn't help but feel that it > was an exercise in looking under the covers for explanations. > > That said, I still think he might give the layperson some pause for thought > about things they take for granted. (Is he the one who thought up that now > hideously overused expression, "Think outside the box"? I liked it the > first 3 times I heard it.) > > So that's my defense. I like clever writing, put don't put it in the same > category as a peer-reviewed journal. As Scott also said, he's a talented > writer and storyteller. His columns in *The New Yorker *are always > must-reads for me. > > Reading what I've just written, I realize my defense is a little shy of a > strong one. Maybe it's his hair.... > > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
