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

The other perspective

very insightful and amusing book. the author describes multiple topics and reminds us that there is always a different perspective or a bigger picture to consider in any situation. I truly enjoy this book

The Best Gladwell Thing

I have been exposing myself to a lot of Gladwell stuff and while his books and podcasts and interviews and articles are all interesting, the best of his shorter form essays from the New Yorker are the most thought provoking things he does and that's all this book is.

It is divided into three sections and I will state the fist is by far the best the second would be a 3 or 4 star book if that is all it was and them the third is extremely strong again. I thought Gladwells strength was conveying big ideas but what this has shown me is that he is good at telling me what is interesting about people. That's what a professional interviewer would be best at.

The book also helps to answer the question Gladwell gets asked the most which is where he gets his ideas. Well, he talks to people until he gets to an interesting place.

For Gladwells larger books and points I always want to add that grain of salt and doubt that he's not himself a scientist and doesn't pretend to be, but in these smaller stories where he delves into people you don't have to use that grain of salt as much and you can just be swept away in the strange drama of it all.

Although I will definitely say the enhanced audiobook form he uses in Talking to Strangers would make this easily my favorite book on Audible, this has been one of my favorite non fiction works on here and I highly recommend it.

Another great book by Mr. Gladwell

Every bit as good as his other books. Take the information of each mini story on its own and apply it to the main story to get the most value out of this book.

Great Short Stories

Malcolm covers various topics throughout the book. Analyzing the same situation from different perspectives to give a bigger picture than what is seen at face value. The insights were great and leave you pondering for some time!

did not grab me like MG other books

set it aside for 18 months and came back to finish. I like his approach, his style, but this book did not wow me

Always Interesting To Read or Listen To Him

If you like Gladwell you will enjoy this collection. My only real complaint is that although Gladwell did an adequate job narrating the collection, it was not superior. I found myself enjoying the narrator from his articles on the New Yorker much more and often comparing the two in my head. Still, that is not enough to keep me from recommending the book or having enjoyed it!

interesting book!

interesting data, struggled to finish . odd ending, I expected more of a wrap up summary of what I learned or what the author believed in.

Might be my favorite of his

Really enjoyed this book. It very much felt like a selection of short narratives that could be explored thoroughly, similar to his podcast.

His other books feel like he gets distracted, and this one allows no time for it.

Highly recommend it.

Just okay

This was my second Gladwell book. Talking to Strangers was better in my opinion. He makes everything better by way of his narration though.

Fascinating

Must read, very fascinating book. Great informational books by the author read many of them and have enjoyed them all. There all very different in many ways but gives a whole different perspective and world of things.