What The Dog Saw: and other adventure by Malcolm Gladwell

Title: What The Dog Saw: and other adventures
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: nonfiction/ social psychology
3 Words: Intriguing, wide-encompassing, enlightening
Rating: 5/5 pens
Best Quote: "If everyone had to think outside the box, maybe it was the box that needed fixing"(Gladwell, 374)

The Gist:
  Think you have an idea about the rules of society? Do you have an interest in a broad range of categories? What the Dog Saw: and other adventures by #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point, David and Goliath, and Outliers may be the book for you. It is made up of pieces that Gladwell had published throughout his carrier. The individual pieces are organized into three main sections. The first section, Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius, focuses on the success stories of individuals in a wide range of professions from salesman to dog trainers. Each chapter focuses on a different story and has a different central theme. The second section, Theories, Predictions, and Diagnoses, takes a look at common problems in the world from the homeless to the medical field. Gladwell points out alternate solutions to the problems at hand using evidence to back his claim. The third section, Personality, Character, and intelligence, focuses on how these traits are viewed in the world today and how they are often viewed the wrong way.

      It is hard to give a summary of the content of this book without spoilers so I will present you with the format of each chapter. Malcolm Gladwell likes to take issues that seem like common knowledge or issues of extreme controversy and look deeper at what we think we know. He usually presents the issue in the form of an anecdote, showing how the topic arises in everyday life. Throughout the remainder of the chapter Gladwell masterfully links the original anecdote to a variety of other scenarios all the while citing scientific research to back his claim. Once he feels his point is proven he leads the reader back to the original issues and clearly connects how the solution applies to that circumstance, usually ending with his message clearly stated.


My thoughts: 
The negatives: It is not an easy task to name the negative parts of this book for there aren’t many. One possible place of concern is the F-word appears once during the book. Also the information could be presented with a bias, by specifically picking the cases that prove the authors point and by ignoring cases that may show the opposite. Throughout the book, Gladwell rarely brings up specific arguments against his case. He spends most of his time showing the data that supports him. In this circumstance, however, if he spent all the time presenting the oppositions case the novel would turn into an encyclopedia and that is not the purpose of this book. So it is understandable why he left that out.

        The Pros: My favorite aspect of this book is the amount of topics that it covers. I seldom find myself only interested in one topic, and this book gives you an opportunity to explore a wide range of topics. Not only does the book build your education, but it also supplies a source of entertainment. After reading this book I feel like I know significantly more than when I started.

       At the beginning of the book, Gladwell states that he put together this book to allow people to get a perspective of other people’s live and that is exactly what he achieved. Dispite the mass amount of different topics, each one felt very personal as if you knew the person in the story. The amount of research Gladwell put into every chapter is incredible. His attention to detail helps the reader to better connect with the individuals in the stories, he writes it in a way that does not feel educational but simply like reading a story.

     
Since I have been reading a few of Malcolm Gladwell’s books over the past few weeks, I have become fond of his style. He writes with an easy flow to his sentences and ideas. Each idea connects to the last seamlessly, allowing the reader to go through page after page in a matter of minutes. That kind of effortless reading is enjoyable to me and adds to the enjoyment of picking up a good book.

          Recommendation: Out of the Malcolm Gladwell books I have read so far this is by far my favorite. I would recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in psychology or any social issues. Also if you just like critical thinking and entertaining stories, you will enjoy this book. If one of the stories does not interest you, then simply skip it and move onto the next chapter. This was an easy 5/5 pens.


Gladwell, Malcolm. What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.

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David and Goliath: Underdog, Misfits, and The Art of Battling Giants- Malcolm Gladwell

            Thought-provoking, confident-boosting, and all around inspirational.  Well known author Malcolm Gladwell provided an incredible book that I would strongly recommend for anyone to read. The psychological science tied to the enlightening anecdotes leaves the reader constantly wanting more and turning page after page. 

            The book starts with the classic story of David and Goliath told in the classical sense. Gladwell then takes the time to point out the significant details of David’s success and starts the book out with the strong theme, if you look close enough you will see the underdog is not always an underdog. Gladwell takes this theme and applies it to people in the real world.  He points out how the advantage is not always with the person with more power and that is a lesson that most people need to learn.

I deeply enjoyed reading this book. The structure was incredibly crafted with very smooth transitions from one idea to the next, always tying in ideas that had already been discussed previously, and explaining the connections clearly. This lead to a building effect where the points were even further driven-home as the book continued. The sentences flowed together seamlessly allowing for a quick, easy read.

The actual content matter of the book provoked lots of personal reflection and in-depth thinking trying to decipher the merit of what was being said. Each topic was controversial in its own right, but upon reading could be shown to be the truth of reality.

The themes were consistent throughout every section each posing a paradox that the author would spend the rest of the chapter proving correct. The proof was offered in the form of at least one anecdote, including quotes from the interview, conducted by the author, of the individuals involved in the scenario. The paradox was then further proven using scientific studies and factual research done on the topic, which adds in an increased level of credibility to the author’s claims. Every claim came with a underlying truth; although the paradox can be true, the scenarios where the paradox is true are nearly always required more work and hardship from the individual affected.

Overall I deeply enjoyed reading this book and found it thought-provoking and intellectual, giving a clarity to the reality of the world. This is a book I feel that anyone could enjoy, but I would specifically suggest it to people interested in social psychology or anyone who needs a reminder that they are not at as much of a disadvantage as they think. Overall I give this book a 5/5. 

Gladwell, Malcolm. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. First edition. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013

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Outliers: The Story of Success

Ever wonder what makes a hockey star, famous lawyer, or billionaire entrepreneur, different from the rest of society? Malcolm Gladwell, #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, poses an interesting answer to that question in his psychology based book Outlier.

The book is organized into two parts. The first part of the book analyzes individual success stories of famous people such as Billy Joe, Bill Gates, and The Beatles, rightfully naming them the outliers. In this analysis of how each individual got to the position they hold today, Gladwell claims they are merely a productive of extremely lucky and unlikely circumstances that happen to befall them. In doing so, Gladwell does not undermine the ability of these individuals nor does he deny their hard work. He often points out their tireless efforts to achieve mastery of their trade as one of the leading factors to their achievement, merely elaborating on how it was they gained the opportunity to have access to the tools they needed to work hard.

In the second part of the book the main focus is on how culture influences daily actions of people, leading to success or failure in their everyday lives. Gladwell ties events such as family feuds, plane crashes, and academic ability all to culture. The underlying theme of part two is developed as if cultures effects on individual’s success or failures can be acknowledged without insult, than it can be used as a means to bettering performance of all individuals. Gladwell ends the book with a very personal account, detailing his own mother’s story of success.

Gladwell flaunts a very easy-to-read writing style with well-connected ideas, facts and anecdotes to try to persuade the reader of what he is saying. He brings up many good points, presenting some interesting information that most readers would be unaware of, which keeps the pages turning. There are some issues that came up while reading. The overall theme of the book was not built upon well. The start of the book seems to supply information of little use towards any central point. To point out the circumstances these individuals achieved is interesting yet not practical to the reader in any sense. There are small moral lessons in part one such as work hard and a suggestions to change the system, but they are overshadowed by his insistence that the only way many achieve greatness is through luck; not very motivational.

In the second part of the book a theme emerges when Gladwell claims that this knowledge can be used to grant everyone a chance at becoming great, which although valid, was never brought up throughout the majority of the book. Even once that theme is identified, He chooses to end the book on a passage about being thankful for the circumstances that landed you where you are today,  which is not central to the other themes throughout the book and in no way was ever suggested until the last page.

This book provides an interesting, quick read that allows readers to be exposed to multiple interesting thoughts and ideas about the reality of certain situations.  The lack of development of the theme makes it difficult to pull a central message, but the reading was still enjoyable. I would recommend this book to readers interested in subtle facts of social psychology and how the world works, not the best option to provide intellect on how to become successful. Overall the book deserves a 3.5 out of 5.

Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-. Outliers : The Story of Success. New York :Little, Brown and Co., 2008. Print.

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