It's not much different covering the land of ideas. We are awash in thinkers pumping out fresh insights at a happily dizzying pace. Here are a few of the more provocative ideas I've come across.

Begin with a letter from Larry Bob Evans of Clayton that appeared in the Sept. 2 issue of The N&O. In response to a story about the growing economic gap between the rich and other Americans, Evans argued that we have come together psychologically in a dangerous way.

"The middle class," he wrote, "lives to serve society. About 90 percent of public servants (police officers, nurses, teachers, soldiers, firefighters) come from the middle class. Earlier generations worked, created and sacrificed so that we could live better than they. ... Today, Americans have rejected these values and embrace upper-class values. The upper class live not to serve, but to be served. Win the lottery, inherit a fortune, downsize a business, invest in real estate schemes, do whatever it takes to live a catered life on a Caribbean island. The future is now. Nobody helped you. You got here all by yourself. Other Americans don't count. ... Most Americans now follow these upper-class values ... The road to debt, foreclosure and bankruptcy runs straight through this pursuit of upper-class values."

I don't think the situation is quite so bleak. Americans aren't that selfish; every road does not lead to debt and foreclosure. But Evans does remind us of the complicated nature of class in modern America.

The parent trap

Sometimes the most provocative ideas are not revolutionary but common -- the thoughts shared by many but expressed by few because they are so discomfiting.

Writer Lillian B. Rubin offers a prime example in the fall issue of Dissent magazine.

Rubin bases her essay, "Hey Folks, You're Spending My Inheritance," on the greatest windfall in world history: Americans are expected to inherit $41 trillion to $136 trillion from their parents during the next 50 years. But there's a hitch. Modern medicine is extending their parents' lives, draining the accounts they are counting on for their golden years and generating a host of unwelcome feelings.

A 62-year-old professor tells Rubin about his father, who racked up large health care bills as he was crippled by Alzheimer's disease during his final nine years. The professor's 82-year-old mother is happy and healthy, living in an assisted-care facility.

"It's very expensive," he tells Rubin. "Even with the money she got from selling their house, if she lives another eight to 10 years, which right now seems likely, she'll use up her money, and my sister and I will have to find a way to pay the bills. That's a big twist, isn't it? You go from knowing you'll inherit money from your parents to wondering how you're going to support them. I don't begrudge her, don't misunderstand me."

Later, Rubin quotes an elderly woman who feels guilty for using up a big part of her children's inheritance.

Rubin's article is powerful, giving voice to feelings common and disconcerting.

Guts and grown-ups

The runaway success of "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell and "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner has inspired a raft of books promising big ideas and breezy prose. One recent winner is "Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious" (Viking, $25.95) by Gerd Gigerenzer.

A distinguished professor of psychology and a major source for "Blink," Gladwell's best-selling examination of snap judgments, Gigerenzer offers fascinating insight into the nature of intuition. Through examples and rules of thumb that go down a little too easy, he shows how we can make better choices in everything from stocks to lovers by cultivating our instincts rather than amassing information.

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