Well, I think just about everything Gladwell has ever written is silly (although I've only read one of his books all the way through, and excerpts of others), but an article based on sarcasm and quotes that, while potentially not cherrypicked, look that way because of their presentation -- that won't convince me of anything. (I should just have a look at the book, I guess.) That said, I'm sure nsfwcorp is more correct here than Gladwell, because of past track record, but someone with zero familiarity with either might get the wrong impression, and that sort of makes the review less effective than it could be. As far as Gladwell's actual arguments ... there's little need to reiterate that wealth, far from holding you back, opens doors and creates opportunities. Having a lot of wealth might be creatively disadvantageous in the Bertie Wooster sense -- that necessity is the mother of invention and wealth takes away the necessity which in turn takes away the invention -- but inexplicably that's not really what Gladwell argues. Also the positives outweigh the negatives. Whatever, it's Malcolm fucking Gladwell. Who cares.