Editing 863: Major in the Universe

{{comic
| number    = 863
| date      = February 21, 2011
| title     = Major in the Universe
| image     = major in the universe.png
| titletext = I hear Steven Levitt is writing a book analyzing A.J. Jacobs' quest to spend a year reading everything Malcolm Gladwell ever wrote. The audiobook will be narrated by Robert Krulwich of Radiolab.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] as a college student, meeting with his adviser or professor ([[Hairbun]]) trying to decide what to major in. He decides to major in "The Universe", but when his adviser details the real work required of that major, Cueball scratches his head and responds that he just wants to "read Malcolm Gladwell books and drink".

{{w|Malcolm Gladwell}} is a Canadian author who wrote such books as "The Tipping Point", "Outliers" and "Blink." His works tend to cover a wide range of topics, usually tied together by a common thread. For example, in ''{{w|Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking|Blink}}'', a motif of intuitive judgments ties together the examples of the {{w|Getty kouros}}, {{w|John Gottman#Predictions of divorce|John Gottman's marriage studies}}, the {{w|Millennium Challenge 2002|Millennium Challenge war game}}, {{w|Speed dating|speed dating}}, and {{w|Facial Action Coding System|Paul Ekman's FACS}}, to name a few.

Gladwell's books are highly popular for being entertaining and eloquent, but are sometimes criticized for addressing the various subjects superficially, providing an incomplete picture, which may be used to draw overly broad conclusions.

Bascially, Cueball wants to be exposed to multiple ideas, in a simple, accessible, and entertaining way, but is unwilling to study and research deeply enough to become truly educated in any of them. 

Randall is making fun of people who claim to have a broad range of interests, but apparently only want to deflect attention from the fact that they are too lazy to master any specific subject.

The authors and presenters in the title text are all known for creating content that deals with intellectual content, but produce it for a general audience, rather than for academics or experts. In consequence, they generally don't deal with the kinds of details, data, and methodology required to genuinely understand a topic, instead presenting a polished narrative with conclusions already drawn, and just enough data to support those conclusions. These kinds of writers tend to be popular with readers who consider themselves to be educated and curious, but the implicit danger is that people might imagine that they're gaining a real education, rather that just receiving high-brow entertainment.

They are:

* {{w|Steven Levitt}}, co-author of the book ''{{w|Freakonomics}}'' and the Freakonomics blog on NYTimes.com;

* {{w|Robert Krulwich}}, science correspondent for {{w|NPR}} (National Public Radio, for those outside of the US) and a co-host of the show {{w|Radiolab}}; and

* {{w|A. J. Jacobs}}, a journalist who immerses himself in different ideas and lives them out for periods of time. For example, he lived for a year according to {{w|The Year of Living Biblically|all the rules in the bible literally}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball before a professor.]
:Cueball: How can I pick a major? I'm interested in everything! Can't I major in "the universe"?

:Professor: Okay. First, I'll need papers on every European trade summit that did not result in an agreement. Then, spend a year memorizing every microprocessor instruction set ever used in a production chip.

:[Cueball scratches head.]

:Cueball: What I meant was I just want to read Malcolm Gladwell books and drink.
:Professor: We all do, sweetie.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]