brave of gladwell
It was not the debate I was expecting, more of a friendly Charlie Rose-type conversation, part of the series that included Steven Pinker. Gladwell acquitted himself well, I thought. He freely admits that he is mainly a storyteller, claiming that he is making up for growing up in a family that rarely told stories. As an example, he related a story about the time his father, a British-born professor of mathematics at the University of West Indes in Jamaica, requested to consult research materials at Georgia Tech. Officials in Atlanta approved the visit, but then panicked because they could not figure out if the professor would be allowed on the campus: it was 1961 and Georgia Tech was segregated. Finally someone called Professor Gladwell and simply asked if he was white. He replied in the affirmative, and they said "Oh, thank God!" The punchline was that Gladwell père never bothered to tell this amazing story until a few years ago. I also learned that Malcolm Gladwell is an accomplished runner.
Thought all it took was ten thousand hours, Malcolm. You jackass. EDIT: incidentally someone put up a 4.22 at the NFL combine yesterday.I was born in England, and we moved to Canada when I was 6, and believe it or not, when you’re 6 it’s already too late to start playing hockey.