 "Michael Gladwell")
Michael Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath, is out. He talks about his favourite books, writers and the "Gladwellian" genre
What's the best book you've read so far this year?
There have been many. I loved Jonathan Dee's new novel, A Thousand Pardons. The best science book I read was Adam Alter's Drunk Tank Pink, which is a really provocative look at how much our behavior is contextually determined.
Which writers do you find yourself returning to again and again - reading every new book and rereading the old?
Did I mention Lee Child? The two contemporary writers whom I consider as role models are Janet Malcolm and Michael Lewis. I reread Malcolm's Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession just to remind myself how nonfiction is supposed to be done. I love how ominous her writing is. Lewis is tougher, because what he does is almost impossible to emulate. The Big Short, one of the best business books of the past two decades, was about derivatives. I read Lewis for the same reasons I watch Tiger Woods. I'll never play like that. But it's good to be reminded every now and again what genius looks like.
Your new book is in part about underdogs. Who are your favourite underdog writers - underappreciated, yet to be recognised, or altogether forgotten?
The most influential thinker, in my life, has been the psychologist Richard Nisbett. He basically gave me my view of the world. Years ago, he wrote a book called The Person and the Situation with Lee Ross. If you read that book, you'll see the template for the genre of books that The Tipping Point and Blink and Outliers belong to. That book changed my life.
Who are your favourite social science writers? Anyone new and especially smart we should pay attention to?
I mentioned Adam Alter, who is a psychologist at New York University. I also really like Adam Grant, who is a psychologist at Penn and the author of Give and Take. What really excites me as a sports fan, though, is all the smart sports books coming from an academic perspective: The Sports Gene, by David Epstein; The Numbers Game, by Chris Anderson and David Sally; and The Wages of Wins and Stumbling on Wins, by Dave Berri and others.
Many a book is now touted as "The Tipping Point" for X or Y, or generally "Gladwellian". What do you make of the many imitators and homages?
I'm flattered, naturally. Although I should point out that it is sometimes said that I invented this genre. I did not. Richard Nisbett and Lee Ross did.
In general, what kinds of stories are you drawn to? Any you steer clear of?
I don't think I will ever write about politics or foreign policy. I feel like there is so much good writing in those areas that I have little to add. I also like to steer clear of writing about people whom I do not personally like. My rule is that if I interview someone, they should never read what I have to say about them and regret having given me the interview.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn't? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
I feel terrible for saying this. But I started reading The Cuckoo's Calling before I knew it was by J K Rowling, and I couldn't finish it. Is there something wrong with me?
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know?
Shakespeare's wife, of course. So I could settle this whole thing once and for all.
What book have you always meant to read and haven't gotten around to yet? Anything you feel embarrassed not to have read?
I have never read any Tolstoy. I felt badly about this until I read a Bill Simmons column where he confessed that he'd never seen The Big Lebowski. Simmons, it should be pointed out, has seen everything. He said that everyone needs to have skipped at least one great cultural touchstone.
What do you plan to read next?
Something with the word "spy" in the title.
©2013 The New York Times
