Malcolm Gladwell was born in the United Kingdom on September 3, 1963. He was raised in Canada but now is a citizen of New York City, New York. Mr. Gladwell graduated from Toronto's Trinity College in 1984 and began his career at The American Spectator. He is currently a staff writer for the New Yorker. His first book published in 2000, The Tipping Point became an international best-seller.

His article about Lizzie Grubman is quite intriguing. One night she drove her father's Mercedes - Benz S.U.V. and parked it in a fire lane. Later, she backed into 16 people, injuring them. Grubman thought it was in drive when it was really in reverse. She claimed that it was an accident and from Mr. Gladwell's opinion it was. When Ms. Grubman hit the accelerator, she didn't press the break right away, she didn't press the break at all, in fact she pushed on the accelerator even harder. Mr. Gladwell was trying to explain how some people can be diagnosed with "unintended acceleration" or "pedal error". This usually affects short people, old people, women, and people who are unfamiliar with the vehicles. Lizzie Grubman was short, a woman and had only driven her father's car twice. It was concluded that what Ms. Grubman did was indeed an accident and that it was caused by unintended acceleration.

This news article was very interesting to read. Now I know why certain people press the accelerator when they should press the break.