Malcolm Gladwell is often invited to speak at large Christian conferences because his writings demonstrate an unusually perceptive view of the human condition. His latest book, What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, is a collection of articles which Gladwell wrote for the New Yorker between 1996 and 2008. Each article approaches its story from an interesting angle. Gladwell has an ability to find and bring to life an interesting story out of seemingly mundane circumstances.
The Pitchman tells the story of a man who makes successful infomercials. The Ketchup Connection attempts to explain why there are many varieties of mustard but only one successful variety of tomato sauce. Blowing Up describes a financial trader with a contrarian investment strategy. True Colors tells the story behind hair dye. John Rock’s Error describes some of the history of the birth control pill’s inventor. What the Dog Saw explains how a dog whisperer controls bad-tempered dogs.
Unlike Gladwell’s previous books The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, this book does not relate to a single theme. If you read it you will undoubtedly end up being better informed about a number of topics, and the book is helpful if you want to study how to tell a story in an engaging manner, but its strength lies primarily in its entertainment value rather than in the usefulness of the information it contains.
A video review of this book is now available on my new site, Businesslessons.org.