Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Scott's bi-annual turn at posting something that doesn't embarass Angie

For those of you who have finished the Twilight series, for the second time, and are looking for a new Edward Cullen to fantasize about, let me introduce you to Malcolm Gladwell. He may not be an immortal vampire with impossibly good looks and super-human strength, but he is probably just as interesting. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker (no, that's not a celebrity magazine - sorry) and he has written three of the most interesting books you will ever read, I promise.





These books are fascinating because they take the ordinary, seemingly commonplace events, people, and stories around us and reveal a backstory that is far more complicated. They address just how much the little things matter (The Tipping Point), how there is great power in thinking without thinking (Blink), and how success may not always occur for why we might think (Outliers). I realize these are somewhat vague and even esoteric descriptions of his books, but doesn't that just add to the intrigue!

For a glimpse into the types of subjects his books cover, here is a clip of him speaking about what we can learn from spaghetti sauce. The clip is 18 minutes long, but so what, just think of it as being one third as long as Grey's Anatomy, but three times less retarded.