My friend G and I went on a run today. Now, G is a philosopher and a prophet in my life. I depend on his wisely wisdomacious wileyness to substitute for my own unwisely, unsubstantiated under-IQ........... He keeps telling me I am an outlier and he used this term to describe someone else today. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I loathe "reading" for the sake of sounding "intellectual". Till age 40, I want to create my own story, then "read" what the intellectuals have to say! So, I read as few books as I have to, just to keep my adventures original.... Even with this reduced reading, I average more than a dozen books a year so, Im a nerd, 100% Some of my favourite authors include Kerouac, Steinbeck, Krakauer, Frankl and Anita Desai. Whats-her-name arundathi and arvind adiga are also awesome but a bit too dark for my sunshine-lovin' soul......

Back to G and I, he told me about this book by Malcolm Gladwell (actually, the bloke has written several books... not that I have read any of them, remember, I dont do coffee-shop conversations on pop culture, books and shit, I make my own road... at least, thats what I tell my snobbish self)... but, G was persistant...

So, run to the bookstore I did and bought this book "Outliers"...

Holy Shit! I did not put it down the whole time... I was reading this other book a few summers ago called "Pudd'nhead Wilson" which is one of the lesser known books by Mark Twain... Its a really interesting book.. out of the commercial successes of Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer labels and addresses a lot of issues around those that were considered the "colored's" or the illegitimate children of slaves.

In the prologue for the book "A Jamaican Story" the author talks about his own heritage........... I was a little disappointed because I take the skeptics view that most authors come from a background of self-promotion but, I read it anyway and looked him up... This chap is very intelligent and not a disappointment AT ALL!!!!

In fact, his recent strife with one of the contributing "intellects" of the Pioneer fund totally sealed my opinion that this book is an all time BEST SELLER! Back in 2000, when I was still younger and still foolish-er, I took a graduate class in Psychology (yes, I had to be the best and show off with my varied classes). I remember writing a paper on a crazy subject called "the bell curve"....... I will tell you about this after a few months............ but believe you me, Malcolm Gladwell ROCKS! This book is an all-time-hit on my list. I dont plan on parting with it any time soon..........