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11 2025 July
Season 5 of the Non-Obvious Show Podcast Is Now Live!
Over the past six months I’ve been recording conversations with people whose books and body of work I find most fascinating. Earlier this week I’m...
Read Now10 2025 July
Copenhagen’s Adult Park Offers Rare Child-Free Green Spaces
On UNICEF’s latest list of the best countries for children, Denmark came in second place. Copenhagen as a city is known for being kid-friendly, scoring...
Read Now09 2025 July
How Carnival Cruise Killed Their Loyalty Program … And What Happens Next
In mid-June, Carnival Cruise Lines launched what may be the most shocking (and potentially destructive) experiment in the history of loyalty programs. They essentially announced...
Read Now08 2025 July
The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Generations by Jean M. Twenge
If there was ever a book that could demystify and explain the differences between these generational labels we assign to one another, this is it....
Read Now07 2025 July
Is “Sludge” a Real Customer Service Tactic to Avoid Irate Customers?
There is a term in Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler’s book Nudge, first published in 2008, that introduces the idea of sludge–“tortuous administrative demands,...
Read Now04 2025 July
The Talking Statues of Versailles
When my kids were younger (and probably today too!) one of our favorite family movies was Night at the Museum. The idea of museums coming...
Read Now03 2025 July
Digg, the Internet’s Favorite Defunct Brand Is Coming Back
If you were around for the early days of the Internet, you might remember Digg. It was a collection of interesting stories that was so...
Read Now02 2025 July
How Technology Is Changing the Way Perfume Gets Made
As AI enters perfumery, are we expanding access to beauty — or automating the soul out of it?” This is the provocative question asked in...
Read Now01 2025 July
The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: The Problems in the Art World by Brainard Carey
Being an artist is hard. When you choose to do it professionally, you’ll likely face many problems. According to Brainard Carey, the renowned director of...
Read Now30 2025 June
How One Museum Is Reinventing the Way Collections Are Shown
Imagine spending a day at a museum without seeing the actual exhibits but instead visiting the warehouse where they keep everything that isn’t on display....
Read Now27 2025 June
Inside the Relentlessly Cheerful Campaign of Zohran Mamdani
Amidst all the coverage of what some news outlets described as a “political earthquake” with relative newcomer Zohran Mamdani defeating longtime NY politician Andrew Cuomo...
Read Now26 2025 June
The Perfect Astronaut of the Future Is Changing—Here’s Why It Matters
In the late 1950s, NASA recruited 11 men aged 25-48 for a unique experiment that has today been mostly forgotten. The participants, known to history...
Read Now25 2025 June
New Event Planner Survey Suggests Celebrity Keynote Speakers May Be a Waste of Money
I have “shared the stage” with Jay Leno. That’s industry lingo for saying that I was the second (much less expensive) keynote speaker at an...
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