Charles

I have the highest regard for Malcolm Gladwell from what I have read of him in the New Yorker. However, I found this audiobook nowhere near as interesting or wide-ranging as Freakanomics, which also tries to explain observed sociological phenomena. Both, for example, consider the marked drop in the homicide rate in the early 1990's in New York. Freakanomics uses extensive data to persuade the listener that it was part of a national trend precipitated by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legaled abortion. This is far more persuasive than Gladwell's view that it was just consequence of a decision by a few New York gangleaders which then spread among the rest. Freakanomics is also superior because of the authors' humor and the more expressive way in which the book is read.