. >> malcolm gladwell, author of the new book "what the dog saw ," what does it mean gladwell ian? >> i did not know. it describes something that has been going on for years, intellectually engaged narrative nonfiction. but i did not invent it. like i say, i think it is an example of promotion but my publisher. >> if you look at the new york times best-seller list, and i do not know how often this has happened, you have four books either on the paperback or hardback best seller. just explain -- you are no. 8 on the hardback -- i'm going to get myself messed up -- your no. 8 on the paperback. that is with "tipping point brad >> is a book about -- "tipping point." >> is a book about the metaphors of epidemiology and behalf -- and applies it to behaviors'. it is a primer on how change happens. >> any idea how many books have been so by now? >> i do not know. it is curiously difficult to find the question now. >> do you pay any attention to numbers? >> not really. i think it is important to always be looking forward. if you dwell too much on what you have done, you fall in the bad habi

. >> malcolm gladwell, what does that mean now that the now to be gladwellian? >> that was invented by one of the publicists at my company. this is an example of corporate self-promotion, publisher. >> if you and look get "the new york times" best seller list, you have four of your books. you are number 8 on the hardback list. your number 8 on the paperback with "tipping point, "which came out in 2000. >> that was a book about using the idea of the epidemic to explain how idea is expressed through a population. it took all language and metaphor of epidemiology and delighted to behavior and things with the enclosed where, a primer on how to change happened. >> cuyahoga domain copies you sold? >> i don't know. >> the pay attention to the numbers? >> not really, i'm a people but once i have written something i never go back and re-read it. it is important to look forward. if you look back and dwell on what you have done, you fall into bad habits and repeat yourself and get trapped a little bit. >> you don't go back and ever re-read something? >> no, i have not read

malcolm gladwell, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> for a dvd copy of this program, call 1-877-662-7726. for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q-and- a.org. "q&a" programs are also available as c-span podcasts. >> up next, prime minister gordon brown at the british house of commons. after that, house republicans discuss the group known as acorn. and in portions of the senate for debate on health care legislation. >> this week the senate continues debate on health care bill. see it all live on our companion network, c-span2, the only network with the whole debate and edited and commercial-free. read the senate bill and a house version and to watch video on demand, though it is c-span's health care of. >> the fact is that is his policies that have to give us the longest and deepest recession. only this prime minister thinks that we should all be pathetically grateful for this long

. >> four of malcolm gladwell's books with his latest as our guest tonight on "q & a." >> joining us on "newsmakers" is jack reed and senator let me begin with what you think the afghan military will look like in 2011? >> it will be larger and primarily focused on infantry units, the units from battalion and not have the logistic and supporting arms, those will be growing more gradually. it will be as it already is, battle tested. and deployed more extensively and a position in several providences to be a lead element. and as a result it will be significant achievement and allow us to begin the transition that the president spoke about. >> will the military be ready? >> i think the army will be ready, ready for a role of holding military and cooperating with local afghans and building political governance. and i believe they will be ready to assume more challenging tasks. they won't be ready for a lab-staff with their own helicopter lift and with logistical and there are few in the world that have that. but they will be improved. there is an issue with the police, i don't believe the

i mean, this is malcolm gladwell material, obviously, i'm going to know. now, the racism part comes in, are we going to make negative, positive or neutral decisions based on she's black, he's white, whatever? you know, and hopefully we'll make neutral decisions and not negative decisions based on those basic facts. what i'm talking about with post-black is something entirely different. there's a different way to rook at -- look at the possibilities of being black. as you know, there's much, much, much, more. we could take up the whole panel talking about that, and we won't. [laughter] >> but malcolm talked about being black. he raised a lot of consciouses, he made a lot of people mad. let me ask you, as a youngster how did you respond to this? >> to what? >> the idea that being plaque was beautiful and not -- black was beautiful and not something you should avoid? >> i don't think that we ever thought we were to avoid anything. you know, so it's kind of difficult sometimes to answer some of the questions. we were happy, we were proud, we knew our mother ma

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> up next, it's "q&a" with author malcolm gladwell, and then prime minister gordon brown at the british house of commons. following that, house republicans discussed the group known as acorn. >> on december 7, 1941, a surprise japanese attack on pearl harbor left to thousand 390 americans dead. the national park service has been collecting survivors' stories about the day. here is one. >> mccain in port on friday afternoon, on december the fit -- we came in port on friday afternoon. we waited in mid channel for the lexington, which at the time was the world's largest aircraft carrier. as soon as the lexington got under way, we took her place. monday, the ship was scheduled to come back to the states, and i would have gotten out. i had saved like four hundred dollars and i was going to go to medical school. bvgi did not go anywhere. i did not go ashore because honolulu in those days was not a favorite port because there were no women. their 2010 for everyone in. -- there were 2000 men for every woman. what are all those planes doing ou

i don't know it was malcolm gladwell who said this but there is an interesting overlap in our approaches to this book and i think that malcolm is, there is some commonality in the way that we approach things on a number of levels. in my mind, what happens is when you have periods of radical change would often happens is that you think of the metaphor in these different scales and everything from accidents of biography, i need genius all the way down to carboniferous blair of coal deposits sitting and your society. my hunch is and i've only applied this approach and a couple of case studies but my hunch is when we have periods of brick fresen this is certainly true in the case of cholera in 1854, in a sense all of those layers are stacking up in the lining in some way so you do have the great genius. you have priestly, you have john snowe can you do have the right moment in technological history when priestly needed the tools who is using. if we hadn't had an air pump, if an air pump hadn't been invented 100 years ago he would have been able to do what he was doing. giffi had had carbonif

after that, a rally in new york city concerning the upcoming terrorist trial, and malcolm gladwell. on december 7, 1941, a surprise japanese attack on pearl harbor left 2003 hundred 90 americans dead. the national park service has been collecting survivors -- 2390 americans dead. the national park service has been collecting survivors' testimony. >> we waited at the largest aircraft carrier. monday, the ship was scheduled to come back to the states, and i would have gotten out, and i saved $400 to go to medical school. the day before was non-eventful except i did not go ashore because honolulu in those davis was not a favorite port because there were no women. -- in those days was not a favorite port because there were no when then. people said, what are all those planes terrain on a sunday morning -- doing on a sunday morning? about the time i looked up, i was almost positive there were six of them coming information. i saw the bomb dropped, and then i saw this huge red plane and black smoke, and i thought, those are real bombs. i thought somebody really made mistake. about the tim

. >> four of malcolm gladwell's books currently sit on the "new york times" best-seller list, including his latest. >> now the first of several hearings this past week on president obama's new afghan strategy, and we hear from several with the chair. >> there has been some confusing about whether the beginning date for u.s. troop reductions is set for july, 2011 with the pace of those reductions being conditioned based. or whether the 2011 july starting date itself is dependent on conditions on the ground, and secretary gates, which is it? >> mr. chairman, it is july 2011 is when we expect the transition process to begin. our view is that -- >> is that date conditioned based or not? >> no, sir. >> ok, next question, and this has to do with the partnering ratio. there are currently just over 10,000 u.s. troops in helman province in southern afghanistan, and partnered with 1500 or so afghan soldiers. the partnering goal for the united states is almost the reverse. as measured in units, three afghan companies to one u.s. company. now paraphrasing the national security council director for

. >> four of malcolm gladwell's books are currently on p "new york times" best seller list. this sunday on "q&a." >> a unique journey behind the iconic homes of the branches of the american government. see the supreme court through the eyes of the justices. go into the rarely seen spaces of the white house. and explore the history, art, and architecture of the capital, one of america's most symbolic structures. "american icons," a three-disc dvd said. -- set. >> "washington journal" continues. host: the latest jobless picture showing the 10% of the work force officially unemployed. a slight drop from 10.2% reported in october. for the next 20 minutes or so, we want to hear from you. if you want to talk about the economy or afghanistan, the president traveling to allentown, pennsylvania -- or send us a twitter comment at c-spanwj. a demonstration took place outside the white house yesterday. this is the picture from "the philadelphia inquirer." also this morning from "the pittsburgh post-gazette," the president say he wants ideas and private help in creating some of those job

. >> fork malcolm gladwell's books that on the "new york times" bestsellers list including its latest with the dogs saw. as he is our guest on c-span's q&a. >> now another in a series of hearings on the president knew afghanistan strategy part of the witnesses are defense secretary robert gates in joint chiefs of staff chairman my molin. john kerry of massachusetts chairs the senate foreign relations committee. this is almost three hours. her. >> the hearing will come to order. secretary clinton, secretary gates and admiral mullen we welcome you here today. thank you very much for joining us. and we appreciate your coming to share more details of the president's plan and for consulting and partnering with congress on the decision obviously of enormous consequences for our soldiers, our security and our country. this is a decision that the president of the united states has made but ultimately all of us share responsibility for its consequences. given the complexities of our challenge in the seriousness of the sacrifices the head and the absence of strategy over much of the last eight