Pur Autre Vie

I'm not wrong, I'm just an asshole

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Lives of Mammals

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Malcolm Gladwell is a fox. I think I saw him once on the Lower East Side, but maybe not. Anyway, I mostly admire his work, but unfortunately he seems to be operating with no bullshit filter.

I have added a link to Microkhan, Brendan Koerner's blog. Koerner is definitely a fox.



I have mixed feelings about Koerner's extreme embrace of foxiness. He clearly has a good eye for fascinating minutiae, but wouldn't it be better if he dug a little deeper? I mean, he's written a book, so it's not as though he's incapable of running an interesting idea to ground. But his blog seems frenetic, darting here and there. Like a fucking fox. I guess I'll try reading some of his published articles and whatnot, maybe it's all a balance.

And indeed, we need foxes as well as hedgehogs. But we also need insight, and I think Koerner is the kind of guy who could get a lot out of some of these ideas.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post and the link, James. You're now linked back at Microkhan.

You raise a good point re: Microkhan's emphasis on information rather than insight. I probably do need to strike a better balance--only been at this blogging thing for a month now, so still developing my legs.

On the other hand, insight takes reporting, and reporting takes time. And since Microkhan is a wholly unpaid gig, I can only spare it so many hours per day. I've also got articles/screenplays/books to write (or at least mull).

Hopefully I'll get a bit faster with the whole blogging thing in the coming months, and thus be able to fit in some deeper material. I gave it half-a-go in today's post 'bout Vermont's flagging birth rate.

Def. drop me a line if you've got any blogging wisdom to impart: brendanATmicrokhanDOTcom. Many thanks.

2:12 PM  

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