Petty - tis a pity

In his review of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, academic best-selling writer Malcolm Gladwell overreaches by bringing Bill Gates into it.

Gladwell's theory for Steve Jobs' success was "tweaking". Refining, editing, incremental improvements rather than discovery or inventing something new. He lists example after example, and the facts are compelling.

In classic "talking past the close", however, Gladwell hits a wrong note by asserting Bill Gates has more imagination just because of his new focus on philanthropy. And chiding Steve Jobs for sticking to the 'narrowness' of technology. That makes as much sense as advising a heart surgeon to a mid-career change into Olympic diving in order to be well-rounded.

Pettiness of this sort does not raise Interest Level, Malcolm.