Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius: Part One from What the Dog Saw

by Malcolm Gladwell

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century? In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from TheNew Yorker over the same period. Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate. "Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Business, Self Help, Leadership, Personal Development, Sociology

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Malcolm Timothy Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has published seven books. He is also the host of the podcast Revisionist History and co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries.
Gladwell's writings often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences, such as sociology and psychology, and make frequent and extended use of academic work. Gladwell was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2011.

Reviews

[SalsaAram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly love the way Malcolm Gladwell writes and describes the people that he interviews in his stories. He has such joy and inquisitiveness that it shines through and I can't help but feel excited and intrigued. There were about 4 or 5 different stories here and they all interested me. Ron Popeil and his family are amazing. I never knew how driven and eccentric they were and are.

The birth control story and how women in western cultures have many more menses and a higher rate of cervical and ovarian cancer compared to cultures where there is more pregnancy and children is quite compelling. Also that the 28 day cycle of the pill was supposed to be "natural" so the Catholic Church would not be against it (as if reason had anything to do with that absurd sexism cult). There is actualy good proof that a woman only really needs menses every 4 month or so.

The comparision of catsup vs mustard was funny and enlighening. If not for Grey Poupon, French's and Gulden's would still be the only two mustards we eat. However, with catsup, Heinz 57 hits all of the 5 taste senses that we love and so it is almost impossible to beat it. Weird.

Lastly, the hair coloring story of the two women that wrote the jingles for Clairol and L'Oreal and their two very distinct personalities was outstanding. You can see how the different companies went for different marketing of women; one of being a partner and one of being independent.

Definitely a must read and looking forward to part II!

[Mohammed Algarawi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first part of the collection of articles Malcolm Gladwell has chosen from his writings for The New Yorker. This part is about Obsessives, Pioneers and Other Varieties of Minor Geniuses. As Gladwell usually does, he tackles quirky subjects and discusses them to come up with conclusions that serves as gateways to larger meanings. In this part he talks about a variety of subject, such as american kitchens, ketchup and mustard, hair dye, stock market, and birth control pills.

I LOVE Gladwell's style, and I enjoyed all of his books. But my problem with this one, maybe only this part, is that I didn't enjoy the subjects he tackled.

In his previous books, you could see how he takes you bottom up, from small, seemingly random topics, up to the bigger picture. That approach made his other books really interesting. Even if you didn't enjoy the small topics he discussed in order to reach his conclusion. In the case of this book, it couldn't be done for the fact that it's merely a collection of his favorite writings.


In a nutshell, I didn't enjoy the topics, so I didn't enjoy this part, since there isn't actually a bigger picture.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read both Blink and Outliers, and though I can't recall the details of either, I remember liking both of them more than any other nonfiction work I've read in my lifetime. Gladwell, I thought, had a unique way of getting his point across - he'd tell stories instead of rattle off facts, which was more learning-inducive for my fiction-wired brain. So when I saw What the Dog Saw in Barnes and Noble, I picked it up immediately. If his long works were fascinating, I thought, then surely his collection would be as well.

And I wasn't disappointed - well, not drastically, anyway. I did end up deciding that I prefer his work that's longer but centered around the same topic the entire time - his other books, in other words - simply because I feel that they convey a single message more powerfully (as opposed to incorporating a ton of smaller themes but expanding upon them less). But I did like many of the ideas and concepts I was introduced to in the first part of the book (although I'm deciding to read a fiction book in between each section in order to break things up a little). Nothing life-changing, I don't think - nothing like what I felt with Outliers and Blink (which I'm planning on rereading soon, along with The Tipping Point and David and Goliath) (wow, I'm using a lot of parentheses), but interesting. One of Gladwell's skills seems to be writing about essentially everything, even the seemingly mundane, with precision and insight.

I look forward to the other two sections of this book!

[James B. Meinel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read!

This is a fun read with insight into the workings of some really interesting people. I’m interested in some of the other books.

[Javier Villar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the chapter on Taleb and Niederhoffer, obviously I like trading.

[Gary Mcfarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very relevant today.

[Summer Sheley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Gladwell masterpiece. Nonfiction’s finest.

[Emily Paton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, this was a fascinating read. I just love getting to sit in his ideas for a while. The ketchup story and the kitchen gadget guy were my two absolute favorites!

[Lucius · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of Malcolm Gladwell essays. Unlike some of his other books where he has a clear topic and something to keep coming back to, this book is just meandering essays which often go nowhere. Often, he concentrates on insignificant details, as if he were writing a novel in the Victorian age. It feels like he needed to pad his word count for the articles at times, so he writes paragraphs about how it feels to arrive at someone's house or someone's office. Unlike Oliver Sacks, Gladwell has neither the backing of research or a way with words to make the text interesting. I find myself skimming through much of the text because it just gets so tedious to follow his meandering trains of thought. And if you're lucky, the essay might come to some sort of point or conclusion, or it might just end on some minor punchline. Overall I'd call it entertainment non-fiction.

[Robin Spielberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like all of Gladwell's books. Like the others, this one was insightful, interesting and intriguing. If you have never read this author/researcher, I would recommend OUTLIERS a bit more than this one.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tipping Point and Outliers were such page turners that I was completely engrossed in. This book was good but I had such high expectations after the other two books so I was left feeling a bit disappointed.

[Charmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights:
When we love someone, we fulfill everything about them. That’s loving.
The freedom they have to do great work is more valuable, and harder to match, than a pay raise—and employees’ spouses, partners, and families are among ROWE’s staunchest advocates.

[Jennifer Noonan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting compilation of Gladwell's work, but I prefer it when he writes surrounding a single theme.

[Pallavi Deshpande · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent real life stories of pioneers, some succeed and others don't but it's the perseverance and belief that counts.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book. I love Malcolm Gladwell even if I don't fully agree with everything he says. :)

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found a couple stories to be really difficult to get through, but overall it was an interesting read and enjoyable. The last story about the dog whisperer was great.