Friday, 3 December 2010

#84 What the Dog Saw, by Malcolm Gladwell (Penguin Books)

Giving it 10/10 probably tells you all you need to know, but further evidence of how much I liked Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers is the fact that I more or less went straight out and bought another of his books, What the Dog Saw.

It's not as good. But that's like comparing Asafa Powell to Usain Bolt. In anyone's terms, when it comes to running very quickly indeed, Powell is outstanding. But he's not Bolt.

Anyway, metaphors aside, it's a fascinating read, as Gladwell turns his attention to finding interesting stories in apparently any mundane subject he puts under his microscope, whether it's the failure of companies to compete with Heinz's Tomato Ketchup to what hair dye advertising did for the empowerment of women, which was my favourite tale, and the dangers of over-analysing decisions with the benefit of hindsight.

So, rating time:

#84 What the Dog Saw, by Malcolm Gladwell (Penguin Books) - 8/10

Next up: Next up: Magnificent Bastards, by Rich Hall (Abacus)

  • Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating
  • 1 comment:

    1. MJB, good skills on this Herculian task, I have been paying attention.
      I have taken your advice, and have What the dog saw sat infront of me, the library's Outliers was out, so word must have spread.... The preface is pleasing so far so I am confident of it being that 8 you promised. Shouldn cathc up with your folks next week.

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