Thursday, March 12, 2009

What Really Matters


Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Outliers" is, like all his books, clear, concise and innovative in its perspectives.
He focuses on getting to the facts under the accepted illusions. What characteristics are crucial for success in life, and which hinder it? As a teacher, I found it required reading, for its gimlet-eyed view of what does and doesn't work in our schools today.
One thing: he says that one test question seemed impossible:
Teeth are to hens as nests are to ?
That's easy.  There's an old expression that something is as rare as hen's teeth.  So what bird rarely has nests?  The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other species, so I think the answer is:
Teeth are to hens as nests are to cuckoos.
Check out his website for more info.