Sure, Gladwell gets criticism—much of it warranted—for relying on anecdotes and selective theories, oversimplifications, etc. But Gladwell gets people to think and engage, which is, I believe, the true value of a non-fiction writer.

I’m not deep into it, but I did find the bit about the age cutoffs providing an arbitrary selection bias in year-grouped populations. As someone born 1 Oct in a state that, at the time, had a 30 Sep cutoff for kids starting school, I’ve always been one of the oldest folks in my classes. Now, I was offered a couple chances to skip grades [second, as I remember it, and probably eighth as well if I'd pushed for it], but I never really thought it worthwhile, and my parents never pushed the opportunity at me. I think that it’s been an advantage for me.

Now, do I think I’m smart because I had a good birthday, one that let me be more mature than my peers when it came time for school? Is there a reason for the skew of my nerd friend group to early fall birthdays? Perhaps. It’s making me think about it, critically, and that can’t hurt.