I heard someone give Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell a big up on the Afterword podcast, so I gave it a go and thank you very much to whoever mentioned it.
I bring it up because the 8th episode ‘Hallelujah’ is right up the Afterword alley – talking (briefly) to Alan Winstanley about working with Elvis Costello and making an album they all hated (Elvis, Alan and mega-fan Gladwell); the creation and eventual emergence of Halellujah as a classic covered by all and sundry; the difference between Dylan and Cohen and much more.
The rest of the series is very interesting too. Made me think about my thought patterns, behaviours and choices on more than one occasion… The tryptic on education started making me very angry.
I quite enjoyed it, and listened to the whole lot in a few days, but as so often with Gladwell it struck me that he frequently tried to make the obvious seem profound. The education thread made the two points that it takes money to make money, and that while financially blessed colleges have more money to spend on, for example, really nice food for their students those extras are the result of their riches and not a cause of them. Yep. Your point being?
The idea of team games where success depends on the best player rather than the least worst one was interesting. I quite enjoyed the basketball one too, just because it is a genuinely good question to ask why a demonstrably successful throwing tactic is shunned by almost all players.
What is it, a radio series ? And where can i find it. Cheers.
It’s a podcast, on iTunes or here http://revisionisthistory.com/