Malcolm Timothy Gladwell was born on September 3, 1963 to a Jamaican mother and an English father. When he was 6, his family moved from England to Canada. He was a successful runner in high school, and his childhood was largely intellectually stimulating: his father was a mathematician, his mother was a psychotherapist and author, and Gladwell developed an interest in the world of literature at a young age. He earned an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Toronto in 1984.
Gladwell's experience in journalism dates back to the summer of 1982, when he interned at the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C. Gladwell said that his academic record was not strong enough to allow him entrance into graduate school, so he initially sought a career in advertising – which did not suit his talents. Gladwell began his career in professional journalism by writing for The American Spectator in Indiana. He later wrote for the Washington Post and The New Yorker, where he has published articles since 1996 and continues to serve as a contributor.
Gladwell has written 5 best-selling novels, all concerning the intersection of psychology, economics, social conventions, and behavior. Gladwell's writing combines theories of social interaction and human behavior with strong elements of anecdote and human interest. Among his books are The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), Outliers (2008), What the Dog Saw (2009), and David and Goliath (2013).
In recognition of his writings, Gladwell has been granted honorary degrees from the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto. His other honors include a spot on Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list and an appointment to the Order of Canada.
Malcolm Gladwell's 2005 non-fiction book Blink is about how people use their adaptive unconscious – the part of the brain that operates rapidly based upon little information – to make important decisions. Gladwell considers how and why some people...
David and Goliath is a non-fiction psychology book written by Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell. The book was first published on September 1, 2011. Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist born in England but lived most of his life and spent his university...
Outliers was written by Malcolm Gladwell and published in 2008. Gladwell wrote the book to investigate the factors that lead to high levels of success; as Gladwell believes that singular and unusual things “always [make] the best stories,” his...
The Tipping Point is social critic Malcolm Gladwell’s insightful examination into the increasingly important concept of what has come to be known since the book’s publication in 2000 as “going viral.” Gladwell’s own definition of the tipping point...
It is undeniably true that Malcolm Gladwell is best known for his full-length books. However, over the course of his long career, he has written several dozen articles. Nineteen of those articles are collected in What the Dog Saw (published in...
