I'm back

Gosh, I didn't realise it was so long since I last posted. No excuse really, except I've started a new blog on a different area of interest so have been taken up with getting that going I guess.

I have been reading. Finished The Tipping Point which I really liked. A keeper that will bear reading again. It reminded me slightly of the Peter Principle, one of those books that gives you insight into how societies function, how individuals and systems "work". The main idea is that incremental change can happen but radical changes come about with that "last straw" which could be a very little thing but it is the tipping point where things go over the edge. Water could be used as anology: you heat it up slowly but it doesn't change to steam until a certain point...the boiling point. Many things work that way, Gladwell is saying. He also stresses the importance of movers and shakers- he calls them connectors, mavens and salesmen but they are people that make things happen because of the number of people they know, their expertise or knowledge and their persuasiveness. Some people have all three qualities and they are the essential difference between some idea or product "taking off" and becoming popular or successful and not.

I have also been reading (not finished) Dark Matter by Phillip Kerr, a mystery with Isaac Newton as one of the main characters. Very interesting but a bit thick and not a really easy read.

And I have just started The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong our next book circle book which I had trouble finding at a nearby bookstore so I have borrowed it from a friend.