I'm re-reading "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell. This is my third time around. Touted as a business or psychology read, it doesn't really shout: writing inspiration! But for me, it is. The concepts expressed here are helping shape my sci-fi world.
I read a quote tonight that I wanted to share. It's superb. It was written by a psychologist named Walter Mischel about how humans perceive each other:
When we observe a woman who seems hostile and fiercely independent some of the time but passive, dependent and feminine on other occasions, our reducing valve usually makes us choose between the two syndromes... She must be a really castrating lady with a facade of passivity - or perhaps she is a warm, passive-dependent woman with a surface defense of aggressiveness. But perhaps nature is bigger than our concepts and it is possible for the lady to be a hostile, fiercely independent, passive, dependent, feminine, aggressive, warm, castrating person all-in-one. Of course which of these she is at any particular moment would not be random or capricious - it would depend on who she is with, when, how, and much, much more. But each of these aspects of her self may be a quite genuine and real aspect of her total being.
This encompassing understanding of the female condition is such a relief I could almost cry. This explanation should be tattooed on all men's forearms at birth.
What a fantastic insight.
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