Everybody loves a list. The 10 favourite movies of all time and all-time top 10 songs are great conversations to have with friends over dinner. Chat Show host David Letterman made Top 10 Lists a feature of all of his Late Shows following the incredible success in 1985 of his first list entitled “Top 10 Things That Rhyme With Peas”. Yet why do we love lists so much? Furthermore, why do so many lists contain 10 items?
Renowned Psychology Professor Walter Kintsch believes we are attracted to lists because we can process information more easily when it is presented in a list format, lists are more intuitive and simply “feel better”. Maria Konnikova, author of the bestselling book Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes, suggests that any article written as a numbered list catches our eye and is totally captivating.
People love lists because they know the content is finite as this has been agreed up-front [normally in the title] and thus a list makes for an easy reading experience. This argument is supported by the Harvard Business Review. In the fast-food information world of Facebook Instagram and Twitter, click throughs on content are important and Top 10 lists are at the top of the tree when it comes to attracting readers. Top 10 lists are easy to write, easy to read and easy to re-tweet.
There is a shedload of lists out there for motorcyclists and in this Blog Post we have created one of our own: 10 Things that we wish we knew when we started riding motorcycles. As well as the 5Four Team chipping in, we asked 5Four owners and the wider 5Four social media community for their tips too.
We have not named the contributor against their contribution. A list of contributors is however included. The list is in not ranked in order, all 10 are included on merit. In true rebellious fashion – that is how Guy and I roll - we picked our Top 10 from the many suggestions that we received. We also took the liberty of combining all of the tips on cornering into one list item. We’re 5Four Motorcycles and we’ll do what we want!
So here, in all its glory is the inaugural 5Four Motorcycles List of 10. Read it and weep and stay safe!
Contributors
Many thanks to the following people who contributed to this list:
Mike Woodhead
Chris Nicolaou
Ed Cosker
Phil Bellwood
Chris Wright
Keith Hubbard
Robert French
References
Letterman D. The Late Night With David Letterman: Book Of Top 10 Lists. October 1st 1990. Pocket Books. ISBN: 978-0671726713
Kintsch W. Recognition and Free Recall of Organised Lists. June 1968. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 78:481-476. DOI: 10.1037/h0026462.
A List Of Reasons Why Our Brains Love Lists. Maria Konnikova. December 2nd 2013. www.newyorker.com
Top 10 Reasons For Top 10 Lists. Thomas H. Davenport. June 1st 2008. Harvard Business Review. www.hbr.org
Stevens E.M.G. Know Thy Beast: Vincent Motorcycles. Vincent Publishing Co. June 1972. ISBN: 09050418684.
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Chris Witham