A collection of Malcolm Gladwell's favorite pieces from his years as a New Yorker staff writer, gathered around the question of why some people see things the rest of us miss. The essays range from the invention of the perfect ketchup and a pitchman's rise to the psychology of criminal profilers, the causes of the Enron collapse, and the puzzle of predicting who will succeed. Gladwell weaves interviews, statistics, and case studies together to probe the gap between expertise, intuition, and hindsight.
Books mentioned in What the Dog Saw (22)
The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin by Irving Stone: “He was sitting by the fire in a crisp white shirt and tie, reading The Origin, Irving Stone's fictional account of the life of Darwin.”
The Murder of Childhood by Ray Wyre and Tim Tate: “For the character of Ralph, Lavery says that she drew on a book about a serial killer titled The Murder of Childhood, by Ray Wyre and Tim Tate.”
Guilty by Reason of Insanity by Dorothy Otnow Lewis: “In 1998, she published a memoir of her life and work entitled Guilty by Reason of Insanity.”
Frozen by Bryony Lavery: “Betty had just seen a Broadway play called Frozen, written by the British playwright Bryony Lavery.”
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer: “Not long after meeting Ben Fountain, I went to see the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of the 2002 bestseller Everything Is Illuminated.”
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville: “Herman Melville wrote a book a year through his late twenties, culminating, at age thirty-two, with Moby-Dick.”
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: “Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe at fifty-eight.”
Lost Earth: A Life of Cézanne by Philip Callow: “In Lost Earth: A Life of Cézanne, the biographer Philip Callow writes about what happened next: Before long someone appeared at his hotel with an object wrapped in a cloth.”
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris: “I'd been reading thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs, about fiendishly clever serial killers.”
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker: “His first two bestsellers, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit and Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers and Their Victims and Tells How to Fight Back, were still in the future.”
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan: “In the summer of 1962, just before The Feminine Mystique was published, Betty Friedan was, in the words of her biographer, so "bewitched" by that phrase that she bleached her hair.”
In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.: “Waterman in their 1982 bestseller, In Search of Excellence.”
The War for Talent by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod: “the three consultants who headed the project — Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod — write in their book, also called The War for Talent.”
Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald: “Here is the description of Emshwiller's epiphany, as described in Kurt Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools, the definitive history of the Enron debacle.”
The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It by John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell: “the one that has received the most attention is The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the F.B.I. Failed to Stop It by John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell.”
Is Menstruation Obsolete? by Elsimar M. Coutinho and Sheldon J. Segal: “In a brilliant and provocative book, Is Menstruation Obsolete?, Drs. Elsimar Coutinho and Sheldon S.”
Should I Be Tested for Cancer?: Maybe Not and Here's Why by H. Gilbert Welch: “Gilbert Welch argues in his book Should I Be Tested for Cancer?, for virtually every other cancer as well — is the transformation of diagnosis from a puzzle to a mystery.”
Big Hair: A Journey into the Transformation of Self by Grant McCracken: “In his brilliant 1995 book, Big Hair: A Journey into the Transformation of Self, the Canadian anthropologist Grant McCracken argued for something he calls the "blondness periodic table," in which blondes are divided into six categories.”
As You Like It by William Shakespeare: “The Jacques Statement, named for the character in As You Like It who gives the Seven Ages of Man speech, tailors the prediction to the age of the subject.”