“I have never read any Tolstoy. I felt badly about this until I read a Bill Simmons column where he confessed that he'd never seen 'The Big Lebowski.' Simmons, it should be pointed out, has seen everything. He said that everyone needs to have skipped at least one great cultural touchstone.”

British-Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker

Malcolm Gladwell is a British-Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996, and he is known for books that bring ideas from social science, business, and culture to a wide general audience. He has published eight books. He also hosts the podcast Revisionist History and co-founded Pushkin Industries, a podcast company. His work often looks at why people and institutions think and behave as they do.