The power of observation

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” – Marilyn vos Savant

Born this day in 1946, vos Savant is a magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright.   Since 1986 she has written "Ask Marilyn," a Parade magazine Sunday column where she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects.  The record holder for the Guinness Book of Records highest IQ – a category retired by Guinness while she still held the title – she started writing about puzzles as a teenager and full time in her current role in her mid-30s after moving full time to New York city.  Since then she has written thousands of articles, essays, many books and her column for 35 years.

 Prior to starting “Ask Marilyn,” she wrote the Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest for Omni magazine, which included IQ quizzes and expositions on intelligence and its testing.

Married and divorced twice before age 35 (the first marriage at age 16), she now has been wed to Robert Jarvik, creator of the Jarvik artificial heart, since 1987 and has served as the Jarvik company’s chief financial officer since that time.

Author of the best-selling The Power of Logical Thinking: Easy Lessons in the Art of Reasoning…and Hard Facts about Its Absence in Our Lives, she offers the following advice when it comes to decision-making.  “If your head tells you one thing, and your heart tells you another, before you do anything, you should first decide whether you have a better head or a better heart.”