In a book review for Discover Your Inner Economist, New York Magazine has put together a great profile of author Tyler Cowen, who is also an A-list blogger over at Marginal Revolution. While not all innovators have such eclectic tastes as Tyler (who is also a tenured economics professor), it certainly helps to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the world if you hope to see where the Next Big Thing is coming from:
"He is a world-class polymath who whips through graphic novels and 816-page bricks like Africa: A Biography of the Continent, listens to everything from Bach to Brazilian techno, searches out exotic cuisines all over the world, and still finds time to travel to remotest Mexico to update his collection of amate painting. For him, deep immersion in culture defines the good life, and his readers get the vicarious benefits."
The article also includes a handy sidebar called Tyler Cowen's World of Wonders, in which Tyler riffs on everything from Argentinean soap operas to New Zealand BBQ.
ASIDE: If you check out the photo for the book review, Tyler Cowen is shown at Mars Bar in New York City. For non-New Yorkers, let's just say that Mars Bar is one of the last places that a world-famous economist would probably find himself in New York. Here's a brief snippet from the Zagat guide: "This #1 grungiest East Village dive where an assorted bunch of punks, drunks and losers are ministered to by a long-suffering staff... Apologists say it's Skid Row in a good way..."
[image: Tyler Cowen at Mars Bar]
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