Last year while I was in Bulgaria, this was one of the books I read. I bought it in Amsterdam after I finished the book club book that I brought with me. I really love Gladwell's books and articles because he researches interesting, real life things and then writes about them. They usually aren't really all that related to each other. This is his most recent book, but I also read two others that I'll get around to posting.
What the Dog Saw
Malcolm Gladwell
A unique thing about this book is that it is a collection of articles/essays that he wrote for the New Yorker. Therefore, each chapter stands alone as a study of whatever subject he chose. Another great thing is that there is a website that has links to all the chapter's original articles, which means you can read the whole book online via the article links.
I used excerpts from one of the chapter/articles in my class in Bulgaria last year. One of the later chapters in the book was about late bloomers and why we associate genius with precocity. I wanted my students to practice reading and analyzing what they read and then comparing it to their lives. I also wanted them to not feel discouraged if they weren't one of the precocious types and may be a late bloomer. It can be very frustrating to struggle in the beginning, and I hope that they (and everyone else) don't give up or have a negative opinion about something just because it isn't easy for them. I think math certainly has this effect on a lot of people. In many respects, I am lucky to understand it well. But I wonder how much of that comes from 4th grade, when I decided that I hated math and didn't like it and my dad said, "no daughter of mine is going to be bad at math," and quizzed me on my times tables and other homework until I knew it like the back of my hand. From then on, I always loved math. I can't really say whether it is related to how my brain works or that I learned to push through the confusion until I figured out how it worked.
The list of chapters from the website with the links and quick snippets of what they are about:
The Pitchman - Ron Popeil and the conquest of the American kitchen. (Oct 30, 2000)
The Ketchup Conundrum - Mustard now comes in dozens of different varieties. Why has ketchup stayed the same? (Sept 6, 2004)
Blowing Up - How Nassim Taleb turned the inevitability of disaster into an investment strategy. (Apr 22, 2002)
True Colors - Hair dye and the hidden history of postwar America. (Mar 22, 1999)
John Rock's Error - What the inventor of the birth control pill didn't know about women's health. (Mar 13, 2000)
What the Dog Saw - Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery. (May 22, 2006)
Open Secrets - Enron, intelligence and the perils of too much information. (Jan 8, 2007)
Million Dollar Murray - Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage. (Feb 13, 2006)
The Picture Problem - Mammography, air power, and the limits of looking. (Dec 13, 2004)
Something Borrowed - Should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life? (Nov 22, 2004)
Connecting the Dots - The paradoxes of intelligence reform. (Mar 10, 2003)
The Art of Failure - Why some people choke and others panic. (August 21, 2000)
Blowup - Who can be blamed for a disaster like the Challenger explosion? No one, and we'd better get used to it. (Jan 22, 1996)
Most Likely to Succeed - How do we hire when we can't tell who's right for the job. (Dec 15, 2008)
Dangerous Minds - Criminal profiling made easy. (Nov 12, 2007)
The Talent Myth - Are smart people over-rated? (Jul 22, 2002)
Late Bloomers - Why do we equate genius with precocity? (Oct 20, 2008)
The New Boy Network - What do job interviews really tell us? (May 29, 2000)
Troublemakers - What pit bulls can teach us about crime. (Feb 6, 2006)
What the Dog Saw
Malcolm Gladwell
A unique thing about this book is that it is a collection of articles/essays that he wrote for the New Yorker. Therefore, each chapter stands alone as a study of whatever subject he chose. Another great thing is that there is a website that has links to all the chapter's original articles, which means you can read the whole book online via the article links.
I used excerpts from one of the chapter/articles in my class in Bulgaria last year. One of the later chapters in the book was about late bloomers and why we associate genius with precocity. I wanted my students to practice reading and analyzing what they read and then comparing it to their lives. I also wanted them to not feel discouraged if they weren't one of the precocious types and may be a late bloomer. It can be very frustrating to struggle in the beginning, and I hope that they (and everyone else) don't give up or have a negative opinion about something just because it isn't easy for them. I think math certainly has this effect on a lot of people. In many respects, I am lucky to understand it well. But I wonder how much of that comes from 4th grade, when I decided that I hated math and didn't like it and my dad said, "no daughter of mine is going to be bad at math," and quizzed me on my times tables and other homework until I knew it like the back of my hand. From then on, I always loved math. I can't really say whether it is related to how my brain works or that I learned to push through the confusion until I figured out how it worked.
The list of chapters from the website with the links and quick snippets of what they are about:
The Pitchman - Ron Popeil and the conquest of the American kitchen. (Oct 30, 2000)
The Ketchup Conundrum - Mustard now comes in dozens of different varieties. Why has ketchup stayed the same? (Sept 6, 2004)
Blowing Up - How Nassim Taleb turned the inevitability of disaster into an investment strategy. (Apr 22, 2002)
True Colors - Hair dye and the hidden history of postwar America. (Mar 22, 1999)
John Rock's Error - What the inventor of the birth control pill didn't know about women's health. (Mar 13, 2000)
What the Dog Saw - Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery. (May 22, 2006)
Open Secrets - Enron, intelligence and the perils of too much information. (Jan 8, 2007)
Million Dollar Murray - Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage. (Feb 13, 2006)
The Picture Problem - Mammography, air power, and the limits of looking. (Dec 13, 2004)
Something Borrowed - Should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life? (Nov 22, 2004)
Connecting the Dots - The paradoxes of intelligence reform. (Mar 10, 2003)
The Art of Failure - Why some people choke and others panic. (August 21, 2000)
Blowup - Who can be blamed for a disaster like the Challenger explosion? No one, and we'd better get used to it. (Jan 22, 1996)
Most Likely to Succeed - How do we hire when we can't tell who's right for the job. (Dec 15, 2008)
Dangerous Minds - Criminal profiling made easy. (Nov 12, 2007)
The Talent Myth - Are smart people over-rated? (Jul 22, 2002)
Late Bloomers - Why do we equate genius with precocity? (Oct 20, 2008)
The New Boy Network - What do job interviews really tell us? (May 29, 2000)
Troublemakers - What pit bulls can teach us about crime. (Feb 6, 2006)
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