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Are people really idiots? Obviously I believe so based on the title of my new book, People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It.

What else could I believe based on the evidence provided?

Parents don't talk to their kids or discipline their kids; give them everything they want and then wonder why their kids are a mess.

People barely do any work while they are on the job, then can't figure out why they got laid off when times got tough for their employer.

People spend more money than they earn then seem to be surprised that the people who loaned them the money actually want to be repaid.

The majority of people can't read and don't read.

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I don't think I've ever met a beginner in a gym. The beauty and curse of strength training is its apparent simplicity. There's no obvious right or wrong way to do it. If you feel your muscles engorge with blood during a workout, and if you feel tightness in your muscles a day or two later, then clearly it's working, and clearly you did it right.

Hard as I try, I can't think of any other type of exercise in which expertise is so casually bestowed upon himself by a novice. Entry-level runners know they aren't good at running by virtue of the fact they can't very run very far, can't get there very fast, and feel absolutely awful in the process of running neither far nor fast. Beginner cyclists know they aren't good because of the unfortunate consequence of their nonexpertise: falling off the bike. And yoga is cruelest of all to the unitiated, who quickly realize they can't come within 30 degrees of the joint angles achieved by their instructors and veteran classmates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

» Sloane Crosley will discuss her writing process and her inspiration for her collection of essays about life as a twenty-something in New York.

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Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, Podcast