Gladwell obviously plagiarized nature

This Wednesday, renowned author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell graced Columbia with “A Few (Un)scientific Thoughts on Backlash” as part of the Psychology Department Colloquium Series. Bwog’s autograph-seeking John H. and photo-seeking Artur R. teamed up to skip class and explore the realms of the “unscientific.” 

For the less-well-read, Malcolm Gladwell currently writes for the New Yorker and speaks for TED. He has written four incredibly successful books, The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, whose central theme is to challenges common preconceptions via humorous anecdotes and surprising statistics.

It deserves mention that the event was moved last minute from Schermerhorn to Uris in anticipation of a larger crowd. We believe that this was, in fact, a ploy to weed out the overly-analytical psychology students. Regardless of the move, Uris 301 was still packed with more people than the bustling Package Center. The only reason that Public Safety did not bust the party (NSOP anyone?) was due to the presence of distinguished professors there.

“Never talk about something that the audience knows better than you do,” Gladwell started off. He offered the disclaimer that he is not an academic. In fact,  he came to consult Columbia’s collective intelligence for answers to put in his forthcoming book, David and Goliath.  Gladwell goes on to discuss the concept of the “inverted U-shaped curve.” (Also known as the straightened Bell Curve, or in math language, the Gaussian curve.)

Read Gladwell’s redemption from stating the obvious

Bucket List represents the unbelievable intellectual privilege we enjoy as Columbia students. We do our very best to bring to your attention important guest lecturers and special events on campus. As always, feel free to mention any events we may have missed in the comments section and we’ll add them. Our recommendations for this week are below and the full list is after the jump.

Recommended

• “A Few (Un)scientific Thoughts on Backlash” Wednesday, September 19 4:10 pm – 5:00 pm, 614 Schermerhorn Hall, Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, Blink, the Tipping Point, and writer for the New Yorker (Psychology)
• ”Politics of Change [part of the 2012 Program on Indian Economic Policies Conference]” Thursday, September 20, 7:00 pm – 9:00pm, IAB 1501, India politicians Salman Khurshid (Minister of Law and Justice), N K Singh (Member of Indian Parliament), and Arun Jaitley (Leader of Opposition in the Upper House of Parliament), registration required
• “World Leaders Forum: A Discussion Featuring Daw Aung San Suu Kyi” Saturday, September 22, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Low Rotunda, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient and prominent Burmese political activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, moderated by Ann Curry—Registration will open on September 19 at 10:00 am. (more…)

Bwog is proud to bring the second installment of “Lecture Hopping,” in which correspondents go to speeches, lectures, and public displays of erudition so you don’t have to. Find the first installment here.

Tuesday February 21
New Yorker Nights Series: Malcolm Gladwell
Miller Theatre

This lecture has been left untitled on purpose, says Malcolm Gladwell; it was not until that afternoon that he had decided on a topic at all. “Tonight, I will unlock the secrets of Fleetwood Mac.”

The audience laughs loudly. A banner reading “The New Yorker” is hung over the stage, properly ushering in the best-selling author of”The Tipping Point” and “Blink.”
(more…)