Monday, August 1, 2011

What the Dog Saw

What the Dog Saw and Other AdventuresWhat the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

On the library stacks: Adult Non-fiction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of 22 of Gladwell's articles written for The New Yorker. One thing Gladwell does so well is that he takes the mundane and turns it into something interesting. There were articles on ketchup, birth control, Enron, homelessness, and mammography, just to name a few.

Some of the articles were simply fascinating. I have found lots of application from these articles in my every day thinking and I think this book will stay with me for a long time. A few of the articles were just so-so for me, but I still learned something new or looked at things from a different perspective than I might have before.

I listened to this book, as read by the author. It was nice to hear his inflections and tone as he would want the reader to hear it. I also re-read a couple of the articles on his website that I wanted to spend some more time with. An overall great read.

Also reviewed by:  The Avid Reader's Musings ~ Book Addiction ~ BermudaOnion's Weblog ~ Your link here?

Source: Audiobook provided by Hachette Book Group for review purposes.

4 comments:

Laurie said...

I especially liked the title essay, but overall prefer Gladwell's books that have a single theme like Outliers or The Tipping Point. He speaks very eloquently and with humor, so I can well imagine that hearing him read his own prose would be a bonus. Thanks for bringing this book back to mind.

bermudaonion said...

I enjoyed this book when I listened to it and then I read that there's some controversy over Gladwell's reasoning so now I don't know what to think.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I've read a few books by this author in the past (1) was an audio and really enjoyed both. I'll have to try this one. Thanks for the recommendation.

Veens said...

I will look out for this one, sounds very good.