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What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures |  | Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.99
Buy New: $14.22
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Seller: miscellany-shop
Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 296
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 0316075841
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.6
EAN: 9780316075848
ASIN: 0316075841
Publication Date: October 20, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780316075848 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?
In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from TheNew Yorker over the same period.
Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.
"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
Good stuff but I'm not going to press it into people's hands like I do Outliers and Tipping Point March 13, 2010
Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX)
I love Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Outliers. They're outstanding, compelling works. It speaks to how deeply ingrained those works are in the American consciousness to note how easily people inflect their conversations with the terms 'tipping point' and 'outlier'. I'm party to that and I hear it quite a bit from others. And though Gladwell isn't anyone's idea of a narrator from Central Casting, his quirky, breathless, enthusiastic inhabiting of his own words makes the audio version a better option for the complete Gladwellian experience.
I enjoyed this compilation of his works from The New Yorker, but I'm not going to press it into people's hands like I do Outliers and Tipping Point. I liked some of the pieces, got quickly bored with some of the others. If you don't cotton to the subject of a particular piece, you're in for a tough slog because Gladwell's "delightful side excursions" (to quote one of the professional reviewers here) - while thrilling and exciting on subjects you like - can be akin to Chinese water torture on subjects you don't. So, while I listened intently on the Cezanne/Picasso piece and the Cesar Milan piece (just picking examples from my head), I used the 'next track' button on a couple of others. [I did listen to all but two of pieces in their entirety.]
Fans of Malcolm Gladwell owe to themselves to buy this book. Those new to Gladwell should start with Outliers or Tipping Point.
 I love his previous three books. I dont like this collection of articles March 9, 2010
ServantofGod
By comparison, his previous three books are much more insightful and well written than this collection of his New Yorker articles, of which many outstanding ideas had been consummated in those books. On the other hand, I must congratulate Gladwell that he had been improving his writing and story telling skill brilliantly over the years. Pity that I realized so with my finding some chapters in it quite boring indeed. In short, I strongly suggest potential readers to try this in a bookstore before they make a purchase. You may thank me for that.
 What the Dog Saw March 6, 2010
J. Carlson (MInneapolis, MN USA)
There are few authors that I know of that create that "have to read" feeling for me but Malcolm Gladwell is one of them and this book did not disappoint. What the Dog Saw is a collection of Gladwell's articles written in The New Yorker where he has been a staff writer since 1996. What amazes me the most about Gladwell is his ability to take the seemingly mundane, pair it with two or three other seemingly mundane topics, and make the story interesting and relevant while touching on topics that impact our daily lives.
One of the articles that caught my attention was written about the inventor of the birth control pill, John Rock. He was a Catholic man who was deeply concerned about the approval of his church and, due to his concern, created the placebo pills that women are still taking today. The significance of the placebo pill was to prove that this was a natural form of contraception and no different than the most popular method being employed by the Catholic Church at the time. (Sadly, John Rock was eventually excommunicated and lost his faith even after he worked so hard and, at times, seemed to have the approval of many within the Vatican.)
By calling the pill natural Rock proves that there are many things science knows, such as how to stop women from ovulating, and then there are things science won't, or can't, understand until after they have had time to see the long term effects of their actions. Something that is said to be "natural" or "safe", such as birth control pills made from progestin cannot not actually be accurately judged until enough time has passed to clearly prove the truth behind the statement. (Progestin actually increases the chances a woman will have breast cancer.) Gladwell also points out that as family sizes have decreased and the number of times women menstruate has increased from about 100 times in their lifetime to 350 or 400 times, that the possibility of cancer from cell reproduction in that process has also increased the chances of ovarian and breast cancer.
This actually leads me to something in my life that has been weighing on me heavily. Science introduced vaccines in 1798 (smallpox) and has steadily increased the number of vaccines available (and required by schools/states in most cases) ever since. Undoubtedly most doctors who administer vaccines as well as those who research and invent vaccines have society's best interest in mind and then the drug gets shoved down our throats via the government and the special interest money they so eagerly accept. My point of this is I have no idea what is "necessary" for my child and what will only harm them. My book for week 3 is a vaccine book that is not anti vaccine but takes a more cautious approach than that of Paul Offit. (see Wired Magazine article: An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All)
I already have a healthy fear of the unknown and uncontrollable, and it really bothers me that the first choice I have to make on behalf of my child may bring harm. Vaccines are not something that you can easily research because much of the research is paid for by people who have an interest in finding data either for or against them. Also, you can't pick and choose single vaccines because they are combined with a number of other vaccines that, no doubt, I won't want to give. I'll move on.
Among the other articles Gladwell touches on the actual value of an interview, why knowing if someone will be a good teacher is the same as knowing if a great college quarterback will be great in the NFL and the difference between what it is to "choke" and panic.
You can find Gladwell's bio and most recent articles here.
What the Dog Saw is not only worthy of a read but also a purchase as are the other 3 he has written. (The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers)
I hope this finds you well.
~jc
Really Interesting!! March 2, 2010
C. Richard (Virginia USA)
This is a book by Malcolm Gladwell.
The book is actually a collection of essays by him that have been in the New Yorker Magazine. Truly an interesting group too - probably something for everyone.
There are around 20 essays in the book. Some of my favorites are the essays on: (1)Ron Popeil aka Mr. Ronco - there is more to those infomercial products and the guys behind them than you might think; (2) the ladies who promoted hair dye - where you learn about the famous line "Does she or doesn't she?" and other interesting items; (3)Enron - actually there are two essays featuring it, and it was even weirder there than you might have thought; (4)Solving homelessness - you might never believe this cost effective method until you hear the whole story; (5)Panic and Choking - the kind involved when you are stressed and don't function correctly, and it really made me think about things I have seen/experienced from a new viewpoint; (6) Hiring and Interviewing - actually two essays and really worth considering.
The title comes from one of the essays that was about a very talented dog trainer. Not one of my favorites, but then I never had an unruly dog.
The author has a very fresh and interesting way of presenting things. Many times he is showing readers (without beating them over the head or putting them on the defensive) how wrong the conventional wisdom about things really is. He has a great writing style and is very persuasive.
Of course, the best thing about the book is probably the selection of topics themselves. This is an art form as done here.
This is a very entertaining book, and I think that most if not all readers will learn something useful from it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Good book March 1, 2010
Connor Dejesus
I've read all of Malcolm Gladwell's books, and this one has all the merits of what he's done previously. The characters are colorful, he presents interesting research, and he asks (and attempts to answer) intriguing questions. The only thing I found confusing about this book is the articles are organized by topic rather than date (the book is articles he's written for the New Yorker). This organization gets confusing at times since what he discusses in the article has changed since the piece was written. For example, the Enron analysis has a postscript to explain developments that happened since he wrote the piece, but that doesn't keep the piece from being a little confusing/outdated as you read it. The publication dates of the articles aren't listed, which makes it frustrating to know where Gladwell is coming from.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
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