A question from Sencha
Loved the book. Love this site. And would love to have your comments on the recent New York Times Sunday Magazine article about how social networks can you keep you fat or thin. Have you found that true in your life?
Your book and this blog have inspired me to try to start a consistent exercise program. So if we are part of a remote social network, perhaps the theory that behavior is contagious is true.
Answer:
I'm way behind on my reading, so I'll have to go back and look at the article, which I missed. I'm guessing it pivots on notions of pack behavior? I remember reading something at some point about how friends tend to gain and lose weight in tandem, and it makes a sort of raw sense, doesn't it: that we emulate the behavior around us, finding strength in numbers (losing weight), comfort in numbers (not freaking out about gaining weight), etc. I know that I set up exercise appointments with friends, in terms of going for runs, as a way of staying motivated---that's not QUITE the same thing, but it's related, I think.
Thanks for your words on the book, and if it and this site are encouragements, I'm hugely, hugely pleased. While my impulse to write the book was, to be honest, first and foremost journalistic --- I thought I had a decent story to tell --- I was motivated, too, by the thought that it could articulate feelings and experiences others would recognize as similar to their own, and that it might provide some reassurance and some guidance.
