Is it safe to say that the Gladwell bar is low and the Lewis bar is lower?
They are both fantastic story tellers.
Sadly, these stories more of than not seem to be creatively spun fiction (to be polite) more than anything else.
That plus his howler about "Igon Value."
A good storyteller, yes, but that is the limit.
But yes: I don't have any faith in Gladwell's reporting. I just think he's a supremely effective writer, and that's interesting to me. He is, like, the Yngwie Malmsteen of his profession, maybe.
There is a comparison I would have never expected.
Course, maybe not using an obscure hair-band reference would be better.
Like, what's the Gladwell equivalent of Yngwie as a youth getting kicked out of a band for trying to kill Graham Bonnet? Make something up. I bet it involves assaulting an editor! What's the fictional equivalent of Yngwie deciding he should sing? I bet it involves Gladwell deciding he doesn't need to talk to anyone who understands mathematics. Or maybe you could break the fourth wall and have Yngwie decide he is fully capable of playing Gladwell in the film, since how hard it can it possibly be, and he's already halfway there since they both have stupid hair.
You had me at "decide to sing" = "doesn't need to talk to anyone who understands mathematics".
I admire a person so deranged they think Yngwie breaking the fourth wall is a "maybe".
If you are going to look for excellent storytellers, I suggest Jerzy Kosiński, whose Painted Bird is a autobiography, that is pretty much known to be false, (but true in some sense) and probably not written by him. His books are far more interesting than anything Gladwell wrote.
Gladwell once said "If you don't like my writing, don't read it" (not sure if this quote is exact) or equivalent. I'm likely to go one better and recommend that friends don't read it as well.
If you are looking for compelling not-true but claimed-to-be-true, also consider Carlos Castañeda.
He seems to pick up a skewed and biased perspective from people who don't have the full picture, and just run with it as though it is the full picture.
It's been a long time since I've read Flash Boys.
If he had sat on negative info it probably could have sold more books if he published some articles beforehand (controversy > puff pieces business wise). That's how that WSJ journo made his career off that Theranos book via posting negative stories well before the book was released. Although he was a WSJ journalist first, not a pop-finance author.
But, look: just wait and see what develops from this, and see if it acknowledges Lewis' role in building up SBF's profile, even after he announced to the world that he was literally in the Ponzi business.
Remember, a lot of these guys are huge narcissists. They will reveal their darkest secrets to a famous journalist, because a bit of fame overpowers their most basic survival instincts. It's like when Trump had Bob Woodward embedded in the White House.