Customer Review

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2011
I bought "What the Dog Saw", by Malcolm Gladwell, on the recommendation of a friend who knew I like too look beyond the ordinary and examine the quirkiness of everyday life. This book, a collection of Gladwell's articles from "The New Yorker" magazine, didn't disappoint me. Gladwell examines a variety of topics and often successfully turns conventional wisdom on its head, or shows how societie's intentions and the consequences of those intentions are often wildly out of line.

Some of my favorie articles from the book were about the invention of the birth control pill (the inventor was a Catholic who thought it a natural birth control method, and the Catholic Church almost agreed) and how the pill has had unintended health consequences for women; an article on Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, from which the title of the book is drawn; an article on Enron, information, and how the guilt and innocence of key individuals may not be as cut-and-dried as you might think; and one that shows criminal profiling may not really be an effective tool after all.

I didn't consider all of the articles to be of equal quality, and in a grouping like this, there is no central theme or lesson, other than to make you think, and think outside of the box at that. But while that could be considered a fault, it can also be considered a strength of the book, as you're sure to find sections that interest you, and you get a lot more to think about.

I liked the book and considered reading it to be time well spent.
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