Gladwell laughed. "So, you know, it's one thing to write about what you should do with your kids when you don't have them." ...

There are different types, but Gladwell’s neighbours were “old order ... Asked his worst, he says, “To delay having children”. Malcolm became a father at 58. He’s now 61.

It’s fair to say that “The Tipping Point” was the tipping point for Malcolm Gladwell’s career. In 2000, the book catapulted Gladwell, then a New Yorker staff writer, to literary superstardom.