When I see the Gladwell hate threads, I usually conclude that I'm not quite smart enough to truly criticize him. I'm not an intense fan or anything, but I have read a book or two of his, many articles in the new yorker, and listened to some podcast eps. And, yeah, he's entertaining and thought provoking. His podcast endeared me to him since he genuinely seemed to enjoy it (I haven't listened in a couple years - not since WFH and not having to commute!).
Well, most of the criticism is not on charitable interpretation but like nitpicking isolated, out of context statements.
10K hours part is good example where people just jump on him for making this bullshit theory about anyone becoming expert by putting mindless 10,000 hours in any skill one wanted to acquire. But reading that book I never got impression that it is some kind of magic.
What I find most funny is that a lot of people who find MG fraud can easily get hoodwinked with some other person/place/technology/thing if they just happen to like it.
