Lots to talk about over the next few days. For now, however, I'll leave you with the story of how I made the people next to me uncomfortable on my flight from D.C. to Hartford. I was reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers (which I recommend to all of you) while waiting to board and just happened to find myself at the chapter titled "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes" when it came time to take our seats. Of course, I had absolutely no idea that there actually had been a plane crash in the Hudson River earlier in the day (as of this writing, all passengers are reportedly safe). I was up at 5:30 in California and had been in transit.
I found my seat and waited for my fellow row neighbors to arrive. When they did, I had my book opened to the chapter title page, completely unaware of the unsettling words that called out in large italicized font. They both noticed and gave me a look as they sat. They seemed a bit unsettled. It took me a few moments to realize why they appeared this way, though I didn't bother to tell them about the book or the chapter. They just kept to themselves, and I read.
Anyway, there's plenty to go over in the next few days. But now I need to crash a bit, no pun intended.
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2 comments:
I love Malcolm Gladwell's books - Outliers is my favorite so far! But you are right - that chapter is probably not a good idea to read while flying!
It's really a fantastic chapter, one I couldn't stop reading. It may look a bit scary to the casual rowmate, but it actually made me feel tremendously safe while up in the air (not that I don't normally feel safe flying, but it certainly reinforced my confidence). Of course, this is coming from a person flying on an American airline. Had I, say, been reading this while waiting to go in the air in Colombia, my heart may have been aflutter with panic.
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