Ricky Gervais famously ended his two successful TV series, _The Office_ and _Extras,_ after the second season, “saying”:http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/ricky-gervais_0207.htm of the third instance of anything successful, “It’s going to get criticised whatever isn’t it?”
Ah, very true. Starting today, Malcolm Gladwell’s third book, _Outliers,_ is “available”:http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922/ to the public. The early outlook is that he will survive his “difficult third” intact.
It is rare for a nonfiction book to enjoy this level of advance interest. Indeed, rival publishers are watching it carefully for signs of the health of the industry. In Jason Zengerle’s “profile”:http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/52014/ from “last week,”:http://emdashes.com/2008/11/malcolm-gladwell.php a competing publisher was quoted as saying, “I don’t care that it’s Little, Brown’s book. We all desperately need some good news.”
Most of the reviews are positive, but nearly every reviewer makes a point of noting that Gladwell’s thesis flirts with the obvious. Overall, interest and enthusiasm are high.
You can buy the book today, or, if your portfolio has taken a hit recently (I’m told such things happen), you can point your mouse at the following online resources.
_Time Magazine_ “profiles”:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858880,00.html the author (profile pic is “rugged”).
_Newsweek_ won’t let _Time_ monopolize that sweet sweet “hype”:http://www.newsweek.com/id/169196.
_The Guardian_ (UK) “looks at”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/16/malcolm-gladwell-interview-outliers “the man who can’t stop thinking.” (I remember an old Kurt Russell “movie”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065566/ like that.)
_Slate_’s Book Club “takes up”:http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=read&id=2204398 the book. (John Horgan likes this one more than _The Tipping Point,_ of which he was notedly critical.)
_Entertainment Weekly_ “gives”:http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20239689,00.html it an A. (The Tipping Point got a “B+”:http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,275755,00.html.)
_Reader’s Digest_ offers two “brief”:http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/malcolm-gladwell-on-outliers-the-story-of-success/article104648.html but “illuminating”:http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/malcolm-gladwell-on-outliers-the-story-of-successexclusive-extras/article105061.html interviews. Gladwell says that he would not want his child to try to become the next Michael Phelps; I wish more people would say this sort of thing. Profile pic = “pensive,” in front of a bizarre hand-drawn gallery of facial hair.
_The Wall Street Journal_ has “three”:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122671211614230261.html “items”:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122671469296530435.html, including an “excerpt”:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669767358429369.html with a baffling typo in the headline.
Other profiles:
“_USA Today_”:http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-17-gladwell-success_N.htm
“_Independent_”:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/malcolm-gladwell-wise-guy-1019537.html (UK)
Other reviews:
“_New York Times_”:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/books/18kaku.html (Michiko Kakutani; reg. req’d)
“_Boston Globe_”:http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/11/16/the_topping_point/
“CNET News”:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10098237-16.html
“_San Francisco Chronicle_”:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/14/RVPT13T9T7.DTL
“_Los Angeles Times_”:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book17-2008nov17,0,2764025.story
“_Salon_”:http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/11/17/gladwell/
“_Financial Times_”:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c0342b6-b40e-11dd-8e35-0000779fd18c.html (UK)
“_NY Daily News_”:http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/11/16/2008-11-16_once_again_malcolm_gladwell_explains_it_.html
There have been lots and lots of “tweets”:http://twitturly.com/urlinfo/url/aa4cf0f35ea6f120b531e592678ca9ca/ recently.
And finally, now seems a good moment to revive two enjoyable New Yorker Conference videos: “2007”:http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2007/gladwell “2008”:http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell.