Tuesday Write 12

Malcolm Gladwell bases his research on the idea that everything is not what it appears to be. He is able to come up with revolutionary ideas by looking closer at everything from spaghetti sauce, to bombsights, and to the Biblical story of David and Goliath. First, Gladwell looks at the work of Howard Moskowitz, a food psychophysicist who created Prego's chunky spaghetti sauce. Gladwell concludes from Moskowitz's research of spaghetti sauce that people do not truly know what will make them happy. 

 

Next, Gladwell discusses the Norden bombsight. The Norden bombsight was used in an effort to reduce war causality by making bombs more accurate. However, in battle the Norden bombsight was difficult to use and ultimately failed to reduce the number of unnecessary deaths. Gladwell describes the Norden bombsight by saying, "it is harder to find the pickle barrel than it is to bomb the pickle barrel," suggesting the Norden bombsight solved the wrong problem. Gladwell also looks at the story of David and Goliath. Galdwell is intrigued by the idea that everything he thought he knew about the story was wrong. By looking closer at the story, Gladwell comes to the conclusion Goliath, not David was the underdog. Finally, Gladwell observes the Warren Harding presidency.

Warren Harding

Gladwell hypothesizes people used a snap judgment on Harding based on his looks, which led to his election despite the fact he was under qualified.  The underlying theme in each Gladwell's research is there is much more to a story than meets the eye. 

At lunch at SRVHS, most students eat lunch in the same area and seem to grow attached to it. I find this interesting because students are able to eat wherever they want on campus but choose the same spot each day. People may sit there because it is in the sun, they may like the scenery by them, or their friends are also there; however, it may be because they are familiar with that spot and it is one the few things that are consistent in their life.