our alter ego works cage fighting into the workweek

» How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times -- my younger and more sibilant alter ego, Tim Ferriss, has just popped up to the top of the NYT business booklist. Back at his blog, you can see how he attributes this, largely, to the concept of the "meme," an idea virus that captures imaginations and takes on a life of its own.

Note, too, that he achieved the #1 spot with no offline advertising or PR.

This cage-fighting schtick has some appeal, along with being the dancing master as well. It must have something to do with the Ivy League -- I have a Dartmouth friend who, at the Fort Benning pre-RVN cattle calls, billed out as "a lover, a fighter, a wild bull rider," until his old lady (as we called them back then) put two and two together. They later married, and are still so.