Book Review: What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures

One of the downsides of committing to writing reviews of the books I read is that people then know what you read; and in some circles, admitting you read Gladwell's work is a little like admitting take your relationship advice from Dr Laura or your financial advice from that button-happy dude on Fox.

Gladwell's been criticized for presenting data either selectively or out of context to support very provocative ideas, presenting these ideas in a science-ish fashion, and then responding to critics with 'hey, I'm just a writer' attitude.

However, if you don't take his writing as science, if you take it as only provocative ideas, then I think he makes for good reading.

I'm a contrarian by nature and so I do like the idea of questioning fundamental assumptions, long-held behaviors and beleifs and the like.

His other books use numerous cases to support a single idea (Tipping Point, Outliers...). What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures is a collection of his pieces from The NewYorker, each exploring different ideas.

In these pieces, he takes us for a romp through the history of hair-dye marketing, gourmet ketchup market realities, questions the science behind FBI profiling, and much more.

As promised, many provocative ideas that should stir your mind. Just be sure to question his science as he does that of others.

link: What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

Book Review: Outliers

A little while back I mentioned to a friend that I was considering picking up Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success.

"Don't bother. It's one of those books that only covers a single idea that you can get in a single page", he commented.

Having critizeda number of business books for the same reason, I was a little reluctant. However, having watched Gladwell's TED talk a while back, I thought he was a great storyteller and decided to take a chance.

I'm sure glad I did. Outliers is a fantastic book. Yes, its about a single idea: That the 'outlier' successes of the world, the Bill Gates, Olympic Athletes, and rags-to-riches stories that we hear, are often as much products of their environments and cultural legacies as they are 'born different'. 

But backing up that single idea are a number of fascinating, well-researched examples, from areas as wide reaching as cockpit voice recordings of Korean air crashes to the history of New York garment district. Gladwell then brings a talent for colorful storytelling to make it a super entertaining read. Highly recommended.