The Big Birthday Party

Despite his disdain for birthdays, Malcolm finds himself celebrating ten years of Revisionist History by looking back on the making of the show with producers past and present. And, of course, his mother. Referenced Episodes: Season 1, Episode 5: Food Fight https://apple.co/402OCaW Season 6, Episode 10: The Dog Will See You Now https://apple.co/46IatrW Season 2, Episode 4: The Foot Soldier of Birmingham https://apple.co/3O9cGGG Season 9, Episode 5: Guns Part 5: The Footnote https://apple.co/4af6dmg Season 11, Episode 9: Hitler's Olympics, Part 9: A Plague on Both Your Houses. https://apple.co/4kwsZcJ Season 14, Episode 1: The Alabama Murders - Part 1: The True Church https://apple.co/3MEPy2h Season 1, Episode 6: My Little Hundred Million https://apple.co/4qC5dNP Season 3, Episode 10: Analysis, Parapraxis, Elvis https://apple.co/46MDcvM Season 11, Episode 6: Hitler's Olympics, Part 6: The Jiggle & the Giddy Up https://apple.co/3O9yiCJ See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 0:58Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 1:39Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 1:57Malcolm Gladwell?

  So I'm calling you because I'm doing a little thing on how I don't like my birthday.

• 2:06Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:07Malcolm Gladwell?

  And I have questions for you.

• 2:10Speaker 02

  Yes, I eagerly waiting to hear this because I have spent a lot of time wondering what it's all about.

• 2:20Malcolm Gladwell?

  That's my mom, Joyce. She's very short, speaks very softly. You would like her. Do you remember ever having a birthday party for me when I was a child?

• 2:31Speaker 02

  I think we did. We didn't do exotic things. I think you had people sleep over. Or you had some people to tea, a few friends from school.

• 2:46Malcolm Gladwell?

  I remember there was once a big party.

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Really?

• 2:51Malcolm Gladwell?

  And I said, afterwards, I said, "That's enough."

• 2:56Speaker 02

  Okay, now, well, are you going to explain what was enough?

• 3:05Malcolm Gladwell?

  In case you're wondering, my mom is a therapist.

• 3:10Malcolm Gladwell?

  I just thought it was a needless production to have all these people over.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  What should it have been instead?

• 3:19Malcolm Gladwell?

  Well, what I do now is perfect, which is nothing.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  Oh, I see. So you didn't enjoy any part of having friends to eat with you?

• 3:31Malcolm Gladwell?

  No.

• 3:33Malcolm Gladwell?

  I haven't had a birthday party since. It's worse than that. I don't remember anyone's birthday. I know my mother's, but not my father's. One of my brothers, but not the other. One of my daughters was born in July and the other in August, but I'm not sure which is which. If I were to name my five closest friends, I think I know the birthday of one of them. And that's because it's January 1st, and I just saw him on January 1st. And he said to me, with tones of great injury and reproach, "Today is my birthday." But I am sure I'll forget that fact really soon. On this particular subject, the overloaded lifeboat that is my memory is refusing all further passengers. And by the way, my mother reminded me, it's not just birthdays that I have a problem with.

• 4:19Malcolm Gladwell?

  It's any kind of arbitrary celebration.

• 4:22Speaker 02

  So you were a very thoughtful child. The fact, for example, that you challenged your teacher, Miss Brown.

• 4:32Malcolm Gladwell?

  Mrs. Brown was my first grade teacher. I was very fond of Mrs. Brown. But one day at school, she brought up Christmas and Santa Claus.

• 4:41Speaker 02

  You put your hand up and said, "There is no Santa Claus."

• 4:47Malcolm Gladwell?

  This was-

• 4:48Speaker 02

  And she had a real problem, because here she was, speaking to a group of small children who wanted to believe.

• 4:57Malcolm Gladwell?

  Yes. They're linked, by the way. My disdain for Santa Claus and my disdain for my birthday is just part of the same impulse.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Yes, of course.

• 5:09Malcolm Gladwell?

  "Yes, of course," says Mom, the therapist.

• 5:14Malcolm Gladwell?

  Why am I telling you all this? Because last year, 2025, was the 10th anniversary of when we started making revisionist history, and I forgot all about it. Totally skipped my mind, until I was randomly on the revisionisthistory.com website, looking up some forgotten fact from an episode from season one, one of my favorites, Food Fight, and I noticed the release date. July 14, 2016, and I realized, holy mackerel, we've been around for 10 years. The internet tells me that this is the tin or aluminum anniversary, which I have to say kind of proves my point. What are you supposed to do on your 10th anniversary? Write "I love you" in magic marker on a sheet of tin foil?

• 6:00Malcolm Gladwell?

  This was back in the summer. So what did I do? I didn't say anything, kept it to myself. It's better this way, I thought. But then I remembered a date I went on many years ago with a girl who told me that she turned her birthday every year into a seven-day marathon. She called it, wait for it, Princess Week. Picture me in the darkened bar, making sense of that revelation. Good Lord.

• 6:26Malcolm Gladwell?

  But if someone wants Princess Week, shouldn't we just give them Princess Week? So all of you insufferably sentimental people out there in listener land, this is for you. A little revisionist history 10th anniversary celebration.

• 6:50Malcolm Gladwell?

  To get started, I did a little homework, sent out a tweet, asked listeners for feedback, scoured some Reddit threads, talked with people who've been involved in the show over the years, trying to generate a highlight reel for the big birthday party. What was your favorite moment, memory? First thing I got back was from my colleague Ben Nadaf Haifry, who talked to my old producer Eloise Linton about a reporting trip we took back in 2021 for the episode "The Dog Will See You Now."

• 7:19Speaker 03

  Okay, so Malcolm wanted to do an episode on these dogs who were trained to smell COVID. And we found this center in Alabama that trained these specialized dogs. And we all decided to go on a road trip. And it was me, Malcolm, and Jacob Smith, so Malcolm and two producers. And part of the thing that was fun, but also kind of crazy about it, was that we were just sort of coming out of COVID. So we hadn't... It was fun to take a trip in a moment when there wasn't a lot of socializing or traveling going on.

• 8:00Malcolm Gladwell?

  Let me just butt in here and say that no one loves doing Alabama stories more than me. Back in season two, we did the foot soldier of Birmingham. Season eight, we did an episode called "Footnote," remember? For our gun series, about a guy living on an old plantation outside of Tuskegee. Season 10, we went to Scottsboro, Alabama, for an episode of our 1936 Olympic series. And we just did "The Alabama Murders," a seven-part series about crime and punishment and redemption set in a little town in northwestern Alabama. Ben and I went twice. Ben went a third time on his own. No one loves Alabama more than I love Alabama.

• 8:42Malcolm Gladwell?

  So in the middle of COVID, I wanted to do a story about how dogs are much better at detecting COVID than even the most sophisticated molecular bioassay. And I find out that one of the biggest COVID canine training centers is an hour's drive from Birmingham, way up into hills. Alabama, cute puppies, viral epidemics. My feeling was that this might be the perfect revisionist history story.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  One fun thing that I learned about Malcolm on this trip is that he doesn't believe in using maps, which caused, you know.

• 9:15Speaker 04

  Doesn't believe in maps.

• 9:17Speaker 03

  He doesn't want, you can ask him his philosophy on it, there's, I'm sure he has some great answer, but he would not use a map. So it was kind of me and Jacob secretly checking our, you know, Google Maps and sort of suggesting that he take certain turns.

• 9:32Speaker 04

  Licking your fingers, sticking it to the wind and being like, I think it's that way.

• 9:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:38Malcolm Gladwell?

  This is true. Since we're talking about my parents, one of my fondest memories of being a kid is driving with my family somewhere and clearly getting hopelessly lost, and my father announcing gleefully from the front seat, "I'm following my nose." I felt that my young producers deserved a similar experience.

• 9:56Speaker 03

  And on this long drive, road trip, we had to stop for gas. And we stopped at a very desolate gas station, kind of in the middle of nowhere, very in the middle of nowhere. And Malcolm and Jacob both went in to grab something, and I went to the bathroom. And I came back out and they were gone. And I left my cell phone in the car. And I just kind of remember calculating what my options were in terms of what I could do. So I remember I went into the, I went into the sort of gas station and was contemplating

• 10:41Speaker 03

  calling my family, calling my roommate and saying, "Listen, my boss left me at a gas station."

• 10:50Malcolm Gladwell?

  In fairness to me and Jacob, Eloise had been sitting in the backseat, and she is by nature quiet as a church mess. So it makes sense that we might assume that she was back there all the time, reading a book or something. And it did not take that long for us to realize our mistake. Maybe 10 miles, max. And in the frantic drive back, both Jacob and I felt really, really guilty.

• 11:13Malcolm Gladwell?

  Anyway, why am I telling you this story? Because when I meet listeners, I think they have the impression that this show is some big, well-oiled corporate machine. And clearly, it's not.

• 11:24Speaker 03

  I was like, did you try calling me? Like, what went through there? I don't think we really talked about it, because we were all so late.

• 11:33Malcolm Gladwell?

  All right, speaking of Ben, here's a note from my Twitter call-out from a listener named Rob Gilfillian. Here's my question. Malcolm pronounces his colleague's name as Ben Nadaf-Hafry, while Ben calls himself Ben Nadaf-Hafry. It's similar to the difference in pronouncing pecan or pecan, or Caribbean or Caribbean. These two obviously spend a lot of time together. Seems odd? This is so true. It's because I just love a double-barrelled last name. I wish I had one. My mother's maiden name was Nation. Can you imagine if I were known as Malcolm Nation Gladwell? I would be unstoppable. So I'm deeply appreciative of that nadaf in the middle of Ben's name. I want to give it the kind of relish I believe it deserves.

• 12:18Malcolm Gladwell?

  Nadaf is like pickles on a sandwich. It's transformative. The other reason, while I'm on this subject, is that this is the price I pay for being the child of a Jamaican and an Englishman who was raised in Canada and then moved to the United States. I have four different pronunciation and accent models bouncing around my head at all times. Everything is up for grabs. The person who knows this better than anyone is my producer, Nina Lawrence.

• 12:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, you have real problems with ambulances.

• 12:52Malcolm Gladwell?

  What do you say?

• 12:54Speaker 05

  But when the ambulance arrived a few minutes later...

• 12:56Malcolm Gladwell?

  And what do I say?

• 12:58Speaker 05

  When the ambulance.

• 13:00Malcolm Gladwell?

  That's what it says. Ambulance.

• 13:07Malcolm Gladwell?

  Where were we? One more memory. We're celebrating our 10th anniversary.

• 13:14Speaker 06

  Oh, my God.

• 13:14Malcolm Gladwell?

  And you were, you were the principal figure in the founding of Revisionist History, right?

• 13:20Speaker 06

  That's crazy. I guess. I mean, yeah, I was there. I was there from the very, very start. I remember our very first meeting.

• 13:27Malcolm Gladwell?

  Mia Labelle, the person who taught me everything there is to know about podcasting. I want you to go back. So we, we were interviewing people. And you waltzed in.

• 13:42Speaker 06

  Is that how, is that how it felt? That I, that I waltzed in?

• 13:46Malcolm Gladwell?

  I had no idea who you were. I did, I did not, I did not read your resume in advance. I never do.

• 13:52Speaker 06

  That tracks.

• 13:53Malcolm Gladwell?

  I think it's pointless. The, wait, but I want to know, what were you? We had never met before.

• 13:59Speaker 06

  We had never met before.

• 14:00Malcolm Gladwell?

  What were your impressions? There I was, skinny Malcolm. What would you think?

• 14:05Speaker 06

  Well, I knew your work coming in. And I had read the outline of your...

• 14:10Malcolm Gladwell?

  I'd given you an outline of some suggested ideas I had for, for the first season.

• 14:15Speaker 06

  Yes, yes. And there were some great, you know, there was some great stuff in there. But I also saw a lot of sports and cars. And all the sources that you referenced were dudes. And I was just like, okay, here we go.

• 14:28Malcolm Gladwell?

  It's like a bold statement.

• 14:29Speaker 06

  And so I'm not a mean person, but I needed to speak my truth.

• 14:34Malcolm Gladwell?

  No one is saying...

• 14:36Speaker 06

  My truth, which was, there's some great stuff here, but no woman is ever going to listen to this podcast.

• 14:42Malcolm Gladwell?

  Which I love. So I remember, I remember that perfectly. I just, I, the minute I heard that, I fell in love with you. I was like, I, it's like, so, so, I so want to work with this woman. This is fantastic. It was a show called Revisionist History. The tagline was, because sometimes the past deserves a second chance. The premise of the show was that you needed to go back over things that had happened because chances are you got them wrong the first time. And Mia walks in, looks at the proposed lineup of episodes, and says, you need to go back over them. You got them wrong the first time. Under the circumstances, who could say no?

• 15:24Malcolm Gladwell?

  After talking to Mia, I thought of one of my all-time favorite songs, David Allen Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which begins with the perfect country opening line.

• 15:35Speaker 07

  Well, it was all that I could do to keep from crying.

• 15:44Malcolm Gladwell?

  If you've never heard of David Allen Coe, by the way, let me just read you a line taken at random from his Wikipedia page. "After concluding another prison term in 1967, Coe embarked on a music career in Nashville, living in a hearse, which he parked in front of the Ryman Auditorium while he performed on the street." How can you not love David Allen Coe? Anyway, halfway through "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," Coe just stops and says...

• 16:11Speaker 07

  Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song, and he told me it was the perfect country and western song. I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country and western song because he hadn't said anything at all about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk.

• 16:35Malcolm Gladwell?

  So then Goodman writes a new verse, sends it to Coe, and Coe says, "Okay, now this really is the perfect country and western song."

• 16:44Speaker 07

  The last verse goes like this here.

• 16:48Speaker 07

  Well, I was drunk the day my ma got out of prison.

• 16:58Speaker 07

  And I went to pick her up in the rain.

• 17:07Speaker 07

  But before I could get to the station in the pickup truck,

• 17:17Speaker 07

  she got rolled over by a damn old train.

• 17:25Malcolm Gladwell?

  I think you can see where I'm going with this. A singer insists on going back over a song, a song that has already been written, because he thinks the songwriter got it wrong the first time. And what's the fix? Nothing elaborate, the most prosaic of things, the bare essentials for a country singer: mama, trains, trucks, prisons, and getting drunk. That's what I think we've learned over the first 10 years of this show, that getting something right doesn't require heroics, it's just following your nose and turning around when you mistakenly left someone behind.

• 18:01Malcolm Gladwell?

  After the break, the celebration continues.

• 18:13Speaker 08

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• 18:50Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 19:35Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 20:19Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 21:02Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 21:29Malcolm Gladwell?

  Okay, I have some thoughts about the first 10 years of revisionist history. Why it has been so much fun? Because it's been way, way more fun than I ever imagined. For me, it starts with the difference between reading a story and hearing a story. In reading, the writer is in charge of what appears on the page. If you read one of my books and you liked it, you're giving me a direct compliment. You're saying, "I like what you made." But when you listen to a story, made up of interviews with all sorts of people and archival tapes stitched together with bits of narrative here and there, you aren't saying, "I like what you made." You're saying, "I like what you found." And that's a very different thing.

• 22:13Malcolm Gladwell?

  One episode listeners ranked as a favorite on my Twitter poll, for example, is "My Little Hundred Million" from season one. An episode all about the strange phenomenon of wealthy people giving millions of dollars to colleges that already have millions of dollars, as opposed to schools that don't have millions of dollars. There's a moment in the episode where I call up John Hennessy, who was the president of Stanford University at the time. Stanford is a tiny fraction of the size of its neighbors in the University of California system. And yet, in 2016, Stanford's endowment was 22 billion. The UC system's endowment, much, much smaller, by about $8.5 billion.

• 22:54Malcolm Gladwell?

  So I asked Hennessy, "Do you ever imagine that a president of Stanford might go to a funder and say, 'At this point in our history, the best use of your money is to give to the UC system, not to Stanford.'"

• 23:07Speaker 09

  Well, that's a, that would be a hard thing to do, obviously, to, to turn them, turn them away. And I think the other question we'd be asked is, "How can I have confidence that they'll use my money well?" Which we're obviously, the president of Stanford is not in a position to vouch for, I think.

• 23:29Malcolm Gladwell?

  It's an amazing answer. And what's amazing is that he had every reason to duck that question, or brush it aside, or tell a lie. But he doesn't. He decides to be completely honest. He owns up to the fact that even though he is an educator, he is not primarily in the education business. He's in the Stanford business. And I suspect that one of the reasons so many people listed My Little Hundred Million as one of their favorites is because of that little bit of tape from Hennessy. I didn't make that moment. I didn't anticipate it. I didn't manipulate Hennessy into saying it. I stumbled into it. And the wonderful thing about audio is that it allows you to capture those found moments exactly as they're happening.

• 24:16Malcolm Gladwell?

  There's an even better example of this. It's from another episode on the list from listeners. Elvis: Analysis, Parapraxis, Season Three. If you haven't heard it, the premise is pretty simple. One of Elvis's trademark songs was "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" And in the middle of the song, there's a bridge, a couple of spoken sentences, a little soliloquy. And over and over again, whenever Elvis had to say the bridge, he'd screw it up, get the words wrong, break out into totally inappropriate laughter.

• 24:48Speaker 07

  The world's a stage and each must play a part.

• 25:03Malcolm Gladwell?

  The Freudian term for what Elvis was doing is called Parapraxis, a slip of the tongue that reveals something about the speaker. So the episode was trying to answer, what does Elvis's issue with the bridge tell us about Elvis? Now, I should say, I had all kinds of trouble doing this story. There was a great essay written about Elvis's Parapraxis by the psychologist Alan Elms. So I flew to Sacramento to meet with Elms, but he wasn't well and couldn't really speak. So I kind of gave up, put the story aside for months, until I had the random idea of just going to Nashville and having professional musicians sing "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and explain to me why the bridge is so complicated. I went to see Bobby Braddock, one of the legendary Nashville songwriters,

• 25:48Malcolm Gladwell?

  and he brought with him a good friend, a singer named Casey Bowles. Casey sang "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" And then we got on the subject of another song. One of her own. Do you find yourself making the kind of errors, sometimes even subtle ones that we've been talking about?

• 26:05Speaker 10

  That's so interesting. I wrote a song about my mother called "Somebody Something", and my mother is adorable. And whenever you heard about things going wrong, or like some tumultuous story, it was my dad. And so I finally was like, you know what? Why aren't we the only person in the family that there's nothing I haven't written about? So I was trying to dig dirt on her, and there was nothing. And so I ended up writing this song about her, called "Somebody Something", and I cry every time I do it. And there is a line, it says, you know, "She's always been somebody something. She's lived every life but her own."

• 26:40Speaker 10

  And it's gone. I can't remember it right now.

• 26:43Malcolm Gladwell?

  I don't know that feeling.

• 26:44Speaker 10

  I can't remember it. She's always been somebody something. She's been everything but alone. A daughter, a mother, a la- A daughter, a lover, a wife and a mother. She's lived every life but her own. Yeah, she's always been somebody something. And there's a line that says, you know, she wonders what it might be like to be somebody else. And she wonders what it feels like to be free. But she's always imagined being nobody's nothing, and that's something she never want to be. But that line usually is just gone. And a lot of times I'll go, "Hold on", and divert and tell a funny story really quickly. Yeah.

• 27:29Malcolm Gladwell?

  Wait, what's the specific line that's gone is? Which one?

• 27:34Speaker 10

  What's gone again? "She's always been somebody something. She's been everything but alone. Daughter, lover, a- A daughter, a lover, a wife and a mother. She's been everything but alone?" Yeah. Yeah.

• 27:49Malcolm Gladwell?

  Why is it that line?

• 27:50Speaker 10

  I don't know. I think that-

• 27:56Speaker 10

  I don't know. I think when you see, she's so, when you see somebody give so much of themselves and that's truly the only thing that she will never experience. And I think it's what I've experienced the most of.

• 28:08Malcolm Gladwell?

  I go to Nashville to write a story about paraprisis and what happens? I find paraprisis. It occurs before my eyes and I was lucky enough to have the tape recorder running. And the reason I love that episode and why so many listeners over the years have said it's their favorite is that you, the listener, and me, the host, get to participate in this little golden moment of serendipity together. Wait, Casey, can you play that song for us? Or is it gonna be too?

• 28:37Speaker 10

  Let's see. Okay. Okay, well, we'll see if this happens.

• 28:58Speaker 10

  What did I just say? Sorry, I'm thinking about my mom. She grew up playing cowgirl.

• 29:37Speaker 10

  That's not right. Hold one second.

• 29:44Malcolm Gladwell?

  There it is again, paraprisis.

• 29:57Malcolm Gladwell?

  I've been making things my whole life. What I've learned over the last 10 years of doing this is that I much prefer finding things.

• 30:29Speaker 08

  This is Jacob Goldstein. With ChatGPT, you can do more than get answers. You can get things done. When you're running a business and looking to expand, you need a clear view of the landscape before making any decisions. ChatGPT can help you prepare. Connect your Google Drive, point to relevant files and reports, and ask it to research competitors, industry forecasts, and market signals. It can turn the findings into a strategic deck in your team's template that you can review before presenting to your leadership team. Growing a business is ambitious, and ChatGPT can help you do it with confidence. Get started today at chatgpt.com.

• 31:07Malcolm Gladwell?

  The new Petivity Smart Feeder for Cats turns everyday meals into meaningful health insights, helping you identify changes in your cat's habits and be more proactive about their health. My cat, Biggie Smalls, is the most demanding member of our household. He has specific mealtimes, or he lets out a massive howl. And last night, I introduced him to the Petivity Smart Feeder for Cats. It took no time to set up. I downloaded the app, plugged it in, filled up the feeder with delicious kibble, and watched as my cat entered the digital age. Biggie, look.

• 31:45Speaker 09

  Meow.

• 31:46Malcolm Gladwell?

  All curious at it. It's his first experience with high technology. Tiny, feline mind, blown. Check in on mealtime with a real-time video feed and dispense food on demand even when you're away. In multi-cat households, the Petivity Smart Feeder for Cats uses facial recognition technology to track up to five cats. Visit petivity.com/catfeeder to learn more.

• 32:15Malcolm Gladwell?

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• 32:56Malcolm Gladwell?

  Every order is backed by 4imprint's 360-degree guarantee, so you can be 4imprint certain it'll arrive exactly as expected, on time, and with the care your brand deserves. Because when the moment matters, the right gift speaks volumes, and the right partner makes it easy. Explore gifting with purpose and certainty at 4imprint.com. 4imprint, for certain.

• 33:26Malcolm Gladwell?

  So I wanted to go over our greatest found moment. And I want to see whether you believe this is our greatest found moment.

• 33:33Speaker 11

  Okay.

• 33:34Malcolm Gladwell?

  I called up Ben Nadaf-Hafré again to talk about the time we went to Los Angeles for our 1936 Olympic series. And we go and see the legendary Milan Tiff, who I've been obsessed with since I was a kid.

• 33:47Speaker 11

  I know who I'd never heard of, true form.

• 33:50Malcolm Gladwell?

  No one, almost no one has ever heard of Milan Tiff, because he was briefly the greatest triple jumper in the world in some point in the 1970s. So you understand, it's a small universe. There's a small universe of people who remember track and field in the 70s, and an even smaller universe of people who followed the triple jump.

• 34:08Speaker 11

  And above that, the top of the funnel is people who know, yeah, right, who know what triple jumping is.

• 34:13Malcolm Gladwell?

  Yeah, that's right, that's right. But Milan was this kind of spectral, brilliant, he was an artist. He spoke in these kind of, these kind of nomadic utterances.

• 34:23Speaker 11

  It was one of the trippiest mornings of my life.

• 34:25Malcolm Gladwell?

  It was, he was.

• 34:26Speaker 11

  He was just a, he was drugs.

• 34:28Malcolm Gladwell?

  He was. He's so fascinating and kind of, just like, I immediately knew we were in some magical universe when we went to see Milan Tiff. Milan takes us to the UCLA track. And he wants to show us the secrets to the triple jump. And my interest in all of this, I'm actually, because I'm a huge track and field fan. I am, I'm just so happy to be at the UCLA track. And I'm aware of the fact that you don't, you're not a track and field fan. And I'm desperate to kind of impress upon you why this is the greatest sport of all time. And I want you to appreciate the beauty of running, which to my mind is the reason you watch track and field.

• 35:10Malcolm Gladwell?

  And so I see out of the corner of my eye, a woman running 200 meter intervals on the track. And I say to you, Ben.

• 35:18Speaker 11

  And I could see it. I could see it.

• 35:20Malcolm Gladwell?

  You could see it. You could see it. And I said to you, I actually went back over the tape. I said to you, I don't know who that is, but that's a great runner. And then she got closer and stopped and was chatting with Milan. And we go over there and we realize it's Sydney McLaughlin.

• 35:36Speaker 11

  You're using, you're using we liberally here.

• 35:39Malcolm Gladwell?

  It's the greatest, for those who don't know who Sydney McLaughlin is, maybe the greatest female runner of the last hundred years. I mean, she's the world record holder a zillion times, double gold medal winner in the Olympics, clearly the greatest American runner of her generation. And it was a found moment. Here I was trying, here I was, I went with you to the UCLA track to try and prove to you that there was something beautiful and transcendent about running. And I point out my, my, my example. And my example turns out to be the greatest runner of her generation. It was like, it's, it was insane serendipity.

• 36:19Speaker 11

  It is incredible. Yeah.

• 36:23Malcolm Gladwell?

  One more thought about made things versus found things. Not long ago, I tweeted out the following. A question that has haunted me ever since I've been forced to read Cinderella a zillion times. Why does the coach turn into a pumpkin, the coachman into mice, and the dress to rags, but the magical glass slippers are fine? Did the fairy godmother have a carve out for shoes? A ton of people weighed in with their answers because, I don't know, it seems like a question that really needs an answer. And my favorite was this, from Med Lectual, who I think is a neurologist in Switzerland, although who knows. "Oh, Malcolm, because magic in fairy tales follows symbolism, not physics.

• 37:05Malcolm Gladwell?

  The coach, dress, and servants are borrowed transformation. The slippers are proof of identity, not escapism. If they vanished, the story loses its logic and its justice." Which is beautiful, right? And I didn't come up with that. I put the question to all of you out there, to the listeners of Revisionist History, people who are as interested as we are in solving life's enduring and consequential, and sometimes not so consequential, mysteries. And one of you, who I've never met, gave me a little gift, which I can in turn share with all of you. Forgive me, I'm going to violate all my principles here and get sentimental, but the great revelation

• 37:48Malcolm Gladwell?

  of the last 10 years has been how much all of us here at Revisionist History have enjoyed telling stories for all of you. Stories about the unexpected, captured in real time, with real voices and real emotion and a real sense of awe about the endless surprises the world has in store for us. I run into you as I'm walking down the street, we're going through an airport, and from emails in my inbox, let me just say, it's been one of the great joys of my life to meet all of you.

• 38:23Malcolm Gladwell?

  Happy 10th anniversary, Revisionist History! Revisionist History is produced by Lucy Sullivan, Ben Naf Haafrey, and Nina Bird Lawrence. Our editor is Karen Shakurji, fact checking by Annika Robbins. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Engineering by Nina Bird Lawrence. Original music by Luis Guerra. Sound design and mastering by Jake Gorski. Special thanks to my mom and to Jim Sullivan, my producer Lucy's father, for recording

• 39:04Malcolm Gladwell?

  his very own rendition of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which Lucy tells me her dad sang to her all the time when she was growing up.

• 39:14Malcolm Gladwell?

  I'm Malcolm Gladbach.

• 39:37Malcolm Gladwell?

  Um, mommy, this is exactly, this is exactly what I needed.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Oh, very good. Good. Very lovely to hear you welcome. Thank you.

• 39:49Malcolm Gladwell?

  Thank you, mommy. I'll talk to you soon.

• 39:51Speaker 02

  We'll talk to you again. Thank you. Bye bye.

• 39:54Malcolm Gladwell?

  Bye bye.

• 39:56Malcolm Gladwell?

  For I don't know how long, maybe 12, 13 years, I've worn a Whoop band on my wrist. I started doing it because I met the founder of Whoop at a conference. He heard that I was a runner and he said, oh, you'll love this. It's perfect for athletes. And he was right. I've worn one ever since. Every time I work out, I see how hard I worked, how long I need to recover. I wake up in the morning and I get a complete picture of how my sleep went, which helps me understand the kinds of things that lead to a bad night and the kinds of things that lead to a good night. It's sleek, long-lasting battery, and now with AI looking at all my numbers and coaching me. Whoop is a winner. New members can try Whoop with a 30-day free trial before committing to a membership.

• 40:41Malcolm Gladwell?

  That's whoop.com for your free month of Whoop.

• 40:45Speaker 12

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• 41:18Speaker 13

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