What the Dog Saw

And Other Adventures

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia focuses on "minor geniuses" and idiosyncratic behavior to illuminate the ways all of us organize experience in this "delightful" (Bloomberg News) collection of writings from The New Yorker.

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 The New 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.

©2009 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2009 Hachette Audio

inciteful

I love Malcolm Gladwell. I first heard him on the Conan O'Brian podcast and became interested in his works. This happens to be the third audio book I have now enjoyed listening to from him. I really gain new perspective with every story he tells.

Great Listen!

I just love Malcolm Gladwell. I have to say that I enjoyed Outliers and Blink a little more, but I was not at all disappointed in this collection of stories. As with other books from Gladwell, I'll listen (or read) more than once.

What the Dog Saw

A bit redundant from earlier works but still good stuff. 'can't imagine a better reader than Gladwell himself.

Not my favorite Gladwell work

I'm a huge fan of Gladwell, this one felt more disjointed and arguments not as well followed through. You never waste your money with Malcolm's work, this one just pales in comparison to say the Outliers.
There is also an annoying musical? Interlude that plays in what seems like random moments and I found this annoying.

Good, not great. Recommend to read, but not over enthusiastically

An enjoyable read, but I've set a high bar for Gladwell based on other books and this isn't as good. Perhaps my hesitation comes from the leas focused approach and wider range of topics than other works.

Gladwell makes you think

This definitely feels like it was the predecessor to Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast. Short stories that make us re-examine how we see the world.

Greatest Hits with some added info

If you've read Gladwell's other books, this has stories that exist in those. These have some more information on each story, or are more complete than how they are presented in the books. They probably took excerpts from the main articles to use in the books.

As always, interesting ideas about the world around us asks how to think about the way we do things. Gladwell chooses topics that seem like we know about and then does a deep dive into the background and context - the why and how.

Of course, there is a chance that the experts that he quotes are selected by their agreement with his assessment, but they're still experts in the field.

Like any research, take it with a grain of salt as you consider whether you find them to make sense or not.

Expect the Unexpected

Turns a lot of our accepted notions on their heads.

Malcolm is the BEST

Would you consider the audio edition of What the Dog Saw to be better than the print version?

Yes for there are short stories so you can stop and start easily.

What did you like best about this story?

Gladwell's writing is amazing he can make any subject matter interesting. He takes the dullest subjects and somehow transforms them into interesting topics of discussion in his short stories.

Have you listened to any of Malcolm Gladwell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Equally as great as the others.

Thank you for the insight

The book opens your mind to several ways of looking at the world. Very engaging.