Big Ideas and Best Sellers

Compiled by EVAN R. GOLDSTEIN

Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker staff writer famous for big ideas and big hair, is author of a new book, Outliers: The Story of Success (Little, Brown), that is certain to make a rapid ascent of best-seller lists. Gladwell's two previous books are The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown, 2000) and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Little, Brown, 2005). Both books — Gladwell calls them "intellectual adventure stories" —