Information Nuggets

Despite my thoughts on the content of the book Outliers, I enjoyed the writing of the book and decided to check out other works by the author, Malcolm Gladwell. And sure enough, next time I was at the library What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures was perched prominently on the new non-fiction shelf. I snapped it up right away.

This book is a little different than Outliers. Instead of a book tied around a central thesis, What the Dog Saw is a collection of essays Gladwell wrote for The New Yorker magazine. Gladwell picked the pieces himself, and divided them thematically into three groups: people, predictions, and psychology. The essays are on a variety of topics which fit into one of those three themes. I read about Enron, ketchup, serial killers (in a particularly vivid and slightly graphic essay that I unfortunately read just before going to bed. Maybe less detail next time!), plagiarism, hair dye, and the Pill.

I really quite enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the format of essays and the variety of information I learned from each essay. Each small, perfectly written piece contained several nuggets of information. My favourite essay was about ketchup. Have you ever wondered why there are so many varieties of mustard but not ketchup? (I hadn't realized this until I read the book!) You will find out in What the Dog Saw and the answer is very interesting. Books don't necessarily need to have an overarching theme to be successful, and I enjoy learning about a variety of topics when I read. The essay format is perfect - like short stories in a non-fiction world. You can read it a little at a time without having to sit down and read the whole book at once (unless you want to!).

A few of the essays discussed financial information in terms that I found a little complex - for example, I read about two investors and some kind of options. Not stock options that en employee gets from his employer, but some other kind of imaginary financial mumbo-jumbo that somehow involves betting on the movement of stocks and making money off of it. I didn't quite understand that essay. However, I'm sure the target audience of The New Yorker understands options just fine! That said, I enjoyed the articles on Enron very much and would like to read more about what Gladwell has to say about Enron and other financial disasters like it.

I think the essay format works very well for Gladwell, and I would be interested to read more of his essays, if he were to publish more in a book format. He is a good writer and is able to translate some complex information into clear, plain text for the average reader to understand. So much of the writing in the social sciences area can be dry and academic, so it is nice to read something that you can learn from, but that will entertain you at the same time. I think I will check out Gladwell's other books, The Tipping Point and Blink and report back! In the meantime, I recommend What the Dog Saw. Enjoy!