This article was originally published on April 10th 2009.  If you haven't read Malcolm's stuff yet - go read it!  You won't be disappointed.  The 10,000 hour idea that he popularized only holds up for mastering in highly-competitive fields and doesn't translate to most activities (watch this TED talk on how long it really takes to learn a skill).  Still, it's great food for thought. Malcolm Gladwell has an uncanny ability to pick a small, below-the-radar aspect of human experience and use it as a jumping off point for an exploration of how our brains work.  In doing so, he usually goes well beyond the initial topic and invariably ends up … [Read more...]