Chapter 37: Malcolm Gladwell on strangers, spies, and silencing the system

Who we are is a function of where we are.

Do you agree with that?

Who you are depends on where you are.

We're different people in different places, right?

You're different in the board room than you are on vacation. You're different with your parents than you are with your kids. I'm different hanging out with Malcolm Gladwell in his West Village apartment than I am sitting in my basement as I type up a little note about it.

That theme is one that we get to open up in this chapter of 3 Books with the one and only ​Malcolm Gladwell​. I flew down to New York and joined Malcolm at his place where we settled around a table surrounded by books. Top to bottom! Floor to ceiling! And, no big deal, all hardcovers. "This is a fraction of my books, I should say," he told me as we began the chat.

We talk about raising nerds in a world forcing us into being average, how to find tribes where we truly fit in, who Malcolm thinks is the best non-fiction author alive, why thrillers are instructive, what Malcolm's biggest advice is for aspiring authors, and, of course, his 3 most formative books.

It was a rare treat to sit down with Malcolm Gladwell in this classic chapter of 3 Books...