Being A Thought Leader

 It's not about just being a disruptor. Thought leaders have to qualify on multiple counts to be thought leaders. 

They should be different, of course, but ahead of their times. Visionary is some sense, and breaking the mould.

They may or may not have a lot of followers, but their thought could gain acceptance later, as has happened in radical theories about the shape of the earth, or the Earth going around the Sun in Astronomy, or many others.

Nobody accepts anything new without kicking and screaming. So a lot of antipathy can sometimes be a precursor to acceptance, though not always.

You can have thought leaders in Feminism, LGBT rights, or simpler things, like new ways of teaching, discovery or looking at cures for hitherto incurable diseases. Any field of human endeavour, really. We wouldn't be high-fliers without the Wright brothers, right?

The Gene- Book Review

Fascinating book. It proved a few points to me-

1. We have done almost nothing in molecular or drug or genetic research compared to some countries in the world. Genentech was making drug therapy based on genes roughly from the seventies/eighties. Research on these was happening at a furious pace even before, for decades.

2. Leaks are important-uncited work also is in the same category, more or less. Scientists don't always want to co-operate for a cause, like any other human beings.

3. Some people work for decades to solve a small problem, thanklessly at times.

4. Unless you can put two and two together, you are not going to be a discoverer/inventor. The twos can come from different people's work.

5. It's fascinating when a knowledgeable person explains the story of an invention, or discovery, just like the author here explaining how the structure of the DNA was discovered, among other things.

6. Eugenics was a stated ambition of many people in the U.S. though Hitler took it to undreamt-of evil extremes.

7. We (all humans) are all likely descended from one woman in Africa, because only women can pass on mitochondrial cells to their children.

8. Good books are rare. About science, even rarer.

The Science of Everyday Life-Book Review

Marty Jopson is the author. Apparently British, as he calls a biscuit a biscuit- and not a cookie. One of his most interesting takes is about the difference between a cake and a biscuit- if it turns hard when you leave it out in the open for a day or two, it is a cake; if it turns soggy, it's a biscuit.

Also, he explains  how an induction top works, in language that anybody (I) can understand. Also, the GPS and how its use for locating anyone (through your mobile phone) is based on Einstein's theories.

He's got a lot of stuff about food and drink (my favourite chapters), bathing and why it causes wrinkles if you dip too long in a tub, why teapots/kettles dribble and how you can stop it (applying butter to the spout can do it!).

Other interesting things as to how the ice being less dense than water is responsible for us being alive as a species on earth, and so on. Why we all dream, but only some of us remember them, why all sweat does not smell bad (deo customers will be able to 'defogg' themselves), why paint needs a quickly evaporating substance to be mixed in it- this also has something to do with the shape of coffee stains.

Well, some other interesting things to know- including simple ones such as how a refrigerator works, and why Alternating Current (A.C.) is used in transmitting electricity over long distances-and why Fall colours like Orange and Yellow and Red appear on tree leaves in colder climates like the U.S. Lots of humour in it too. Recommended.

Corporate Shenanigans and More

This is actually a review of a book on called The Big Bing. Written by a former columnist (named Stanley Bing) of the magazine Esquire and others, it contains a great deal of humour. His punching bag are the workplace, consultants, bosses, and occasionally, himself. An example of the last-

"A host of big swinging editors at Esquire supported my growth from a tiny nub in the back of the magazine next to the hair replacement ads to one of grave sociological importance in the front near men's underwear."

Some more- these are about the Middle Ages and the things that followed.

"Around 1400 AD, anybody with four good limbs got on a horse and went to kill other people for what they believed in.This was called the Crusades."

" Science was invented, and Copernicus realized that the world did not revolve around Poland. This impressed Galileo, who told Newton, who discovered gravity, and the race for nuclear weapons was on."

There are a lot more essays, on a variety of subjects. One is on the importance of Lying in corporate life. Another about accountants and Enron. If you can get (understand) Americanese, it's for you.