Book #1: Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw"

In my first book review, I will briefly discuss the pros and cons of Malcolm Gladwell's latest effort, What the Dog Saw: and other adventures. For those that are not familiar with Gladwell, he is the author of other books (generally of the same nature), "Tipping Point", "Blink", and "Outliers". That said, let's get right into it...

Part of what I like about Gladwell's approach is that it is written in a very conversational manner. It comes down to the readers familiarity with Gladwell's topic du juor when assessing just how enjoyable his books can be. In "What the Dog Saw" (WTDS, henceforth), Gladwell has grouped together a number of his essays in the New Yorker magazine, for which he has been a writer since the mid-90s. While each of three sections of this book deal with three generally similar themes, each chapter is its own, and stands on its own when read a chapter at a time. This, in my opinion, is a mixed bag when dealing with this book. While one chapter may be really interesting, the next- or another within the same scope of each of the WTDS's sections could be a bit laborous to read through (I was strangely intrigued by the 'science' behind the near-monopolization of the ketchup industry, whereas my attention and tolerance for people who make their money in animal psychology is admittedly short).

Talking to animal's spirits? Understanding their behavior? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The benefit is that if you have any interest in the topic of any particular chapter, Gladwell's seemingly effortless way of making a scholarly study conversational forces you to take a (made easy) look at the topic he's writing about and form an opinion of it. Even if you don't agree with the premise or the idea that he's hawking, you're at least getting the picture presented in a thorough fashion. THAT, in my opinion, is the best thing about Gladwell's books: if you read them, you will at least gain an understanding of people who think in that manner, whether you agree or not. And it's in small doses, so if you really can't philosophically stomach what the man's selling, you can take it one effortless chapter at a time.

This chapter-by-chapter approach to selling a larger product isn't necessarily a bad thing, as fiction is a larger-scale crapshoot when calculating interest and retention of readership. I did get the feeling, however, that I had read some of these articles before. I would imagine that part of that inevitability comes from having read Gladwell before. I haven't read Tipping Point, but THOROUGHLY enjoyed Blink, and Outliers, Gladwell's 2008 book about "diamonds in the rough", how rare they actually are, and whether coincidence plays as large a role in success as we may be led to believe. By comparison, the looser theme-- seeing things from a different perspective to understand how the minds of some work to create and breed different levels of success-- left me feeling a little bit like I had missed something.

I guess I just felt like I was getting bits and pieces from Gladwell's past to make sort of a "best of" book, which requires some work in tying it all together. I'm an album man, and I prefer listening to a full body of work, even if the best-of album is full of the big hits. It's fairly nitpicky, as there are many things I enjoy about this writer, but the concept of understanding the mindset of others and how it comes together to form a bigger notion is better-suited for the New Yorker. Serve that up every few months. When he transfers that notion to, say, Blink, and zeroes in on the first thoughts upon interaction with a person/place/thing (your conditioned thought process, and what goes through your mind in the blink of an eye), the focus- to me- was better laid-out.

While the book picked up steam towards the end (and after re-reading the Preface, which I breezed through before diving into the WTDS), the at-times lack of focus worked against my desire to plug through the book. It will be re-read, for sure, but that sort of difficulty should be expressed.

On the whole, Gladwell turns in another fine effort, even if it was expected as a collection of hits from his day job. I certainly recommend it if you are in any way, shape, or form a fan of non-fiction/psychology/sociology/popular culture (yeah, pop culture shows up)...but I recommend Blink a bit more.