The Gospel Coalition

Malcolm Gladwell is a phenomenon. He has written four books and, at this moment, all of them are on the New York Times list of bestsellers, two in hardcover and two in softcover. Add them all up and you find that his books have spent 420 combined weeks on the list. That is, frankly, almost unbelievable. His most recent title is What the Dog Saw and it is quite a bit different from the other three. Where The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers dealt with a single theme and carried it from cover-to-cover, What the Dog Saw is a round-up of some of the best of the articles he has written for The New Yorker. It is about twice the length of his prior books but very much the same in the style of writing and in what makes Gladwell both so popular and so distinctive–his way of taking two or more topics that seem completely disconnected and then building a bridge between them.

The book has a little bit of internal structure in the way it has been divided into three parts. The first part focuses on minor geniuses, not world-changers like Winston Churchill but figures like Ron Popeil who has made a lesser mark but a mark nonetheless. The second part looks at theories, of ways of organizing experience. Here we are challenged about how to think about homelessness or a disaster like that of the space shuttle Challenger. The final part comments on predictions and our ability to make judgments about people–their intelligence, their talent, their future.

Having finished What the Dog Saw, I’ve now read all of Gladwell’s books. I think I would rate this one at the back of the pack. It’s not that there is anything inherently wrong with it, but more that Gladwell seems to be at his best when writing at greater length, when going into greater detail. Also, 400 pages of his writing, hopping as he does from topic-to-topic, proves to be just a little bit too much, at least to this reader. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but found it just a little bit too long by the end. I might recommend reading it in smaller portions rather than straight-through as I did.

One thing about Gladwell’s writing came into clear focus as I read chapter after chapter, article after article. It is his reliance on statistics and studies, often ones that are rather insignificant. Very often he relies on rather niche studies or psychological experiments to carry along his arguments. And often I wonder if these studies are significant enough that they should be used in such a way. I do believe there is value to be found in studies and statistics, but the fact is that if we look hard enough we can find something, somewhere that will help prove what we are trying to say. While Gladwell does have a team of fact-checkers following along behind him, I still do wonder at just how valuable all these experiments and studies and statistics really are.

For Gladwell fans, there is really no question: add this to your collection. For those who have never read any of his works, this might be a good introduction. Then again, I would probably be more inclined to hand someone The Tipping Point which is, I’m convinced, a better book.

Verdict: Wait for the paperback