Sunday, February 10, 2013

What the Dog Saw

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, by Malcolm Gladwell has been sitting on my shelf for a while waiting for me to pick it up. I've enjoyed Gladwell's work ever since I read The Tipping Point several years ago. He has an easily identifiable style, and I like the way he writes clearly and beautifully lays out the story he's telling.

This book is a collection of essays that he originally wrote for The New Yorker magazine. It's divided into three sections. The first section looks at minor geniuses; the second looks at ways we organize experience; the third section looks at the predictions we make about other people.

Gladwell explores hair dye, the birth control pill, choking versus panicking, the Challenger disaster, job interviews, ketchup, and pit bulls among many other topics. One of my favorites was the essay "Million-Dollar Murray" which looked at solving the problem of homelessness instead of just managing it.

I don't think you have to agree with everything he writes to enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's writing. It will help you look at the world, or at least some small part of it, in a new way.

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