Mark Alpert (November 6, 1942)

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “The Tipping Point”, interviewed this man, when he was still at the University of Texas.

Mark Alpert is a slender, energetic man in his fifties [in 2000]. He has dark hair and a prominent nose and two small, burning, intelligent eyes. He talks quickly and precisely and with absolute authority. He’s the kind of person who doesn’t say that it was hot yesterday. He would say that we had a high of 87 degrees yesterday. He doesn’t walk up stairs. He runs up them, like a small boy. He gives the sense that he is interested in and curious about everything, that, even at his age, if you gave him a children’s chemistry set he would happily sit down right then and there and create some strange new concoction.

The Tipping Point (page 63)

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Mark Alpert that he wrote a book called “Pricing Decisions” when he was just 21.

What makes people like Mark Alpert so important in starting epidemics? Obviously they know things that the rest of us don’t. They read more magazines than the rest of us, more newspapers, and they may be the only people who read junk mail. Mark Alpert happens to be a connoisseur of electronic equipment. If there was a breakthrough new television or video-camera, and you were a friend of his, you can bet you would hear all about it quickly. Mavens have the knowledge and the social skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics. What sets Mavens apart, though, is not so much what they know but how they pass it along. The fact that Mavens want to help, for no other reason than because they like to help, turns out to be an awfully effective way of getting someone’s attention.

Ibid (page 67)

(* The word maven comes from the Yiddish meyvn, meaning “one who understands.” But to be a maven you have to more than just understand a topic, you have to know its ins and outs. Often mavens are the people that you turn to as experts in a field. You don’t become a maven overnight. That kind of expertise comes with an accumulation of knowledge over the years.)

Meet Mark Alpert

This chart is rectified to the age (25) that Alpert married his wife (Venus). That is some line-up of planets around his Descendant. There are three inconjuncts.

Sun Inconjunct Saturn

You will always require structure in your life, and you will always be happier with some kind of discipline. But you should also try out new kinds of experience, do new and different things and expand the structure of your life. Instead of always staying home, go out and see new places, meet new people. This is the only way that you can learn to overcome your shyness and lack of confidence.

Venus Inconjunct Saturn

This aspect means that your family may make you feel that you are unworthy of love. Unless you are given a great deal of love while you are young, you will be attracted to cold and unfeeling people when you are an adult. Such people are an outward expression of your inner feeling of unworthiness.

Even without any pressure, you are likely to be more disciplined than most people your age. You don’t go overboard in anything, and you feel strongly that your worth depends on what you do and how much you accomplish.

(Saturn is in the 2nd House of money and personal possessions.)

Mars Inconjunct Uranus

Sometimes you may make sudden moves that startle people. You may make a decision very quickly and start to act on it immediately, but that is not such a good idea. Make up your mind more slowly, or at least wait for a while until you start to act. If your idea still looks good a couple of days later, it is probably all right to go ahead with it.

(Uranus is in the 1st House of personality.)