I'm in the process of writing a non-fiction book. The intro of one of my chapters is a story I got from Malcolm Gladwell. It was about Howard Moskowitz and how in the process of finding out the best spaghetti sauce he discovered something interesting. The story fits my point pretty well. So the question is, can I mention the story in my book? Would I have to mention Malcom Gladwell told this story in a speech? Or can I just mention the story to make my point? What's the best way to approach this?
I think it would be fair to reference the source, wouldn't you?
Were you told the story individually, or at an event?
Is the story well-known? Can you find multiple sources of it? Maybe if it's a broadly known story, retold many times and without a specific source, ie. (the imaginary, since I just made him up) Jim Bennings who was Howard's dorm mate and part time foodie journalist...then you could pretend you came up with it yourself.
Otherwise, and I don't see the downside in doing so, especially as Malcolm is a recognized author, reference the source.
Answered 8 years ago
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