From the introduction to Malcolm Gladwell’s splendid new book, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures:

The other trick to finding ideas is figuring out the difference between power and knowledge. Of all the people whom you’ll meet in this volume, very few of them are powerful, or even famous. When I said that I’m most interested in minor geniuses, that’s what I meant. … People at the top are self-conscious about what they say (and rightfully so) because they have position and privilege to protect – and self-consciousness is the enemy of ‘interestingness.’

Has anyone else found that the older you get, the less interesting powerful people become? Give me The Book Show over Question Time any day.