What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures

by Malcolm Gladwell
Hennepin County Library audiobook 10 discs
read by the author
genre: non-fiction, journalism

Overall impressions:
Gladwell is freakishly smart. Erudite, even. Yet his writing is accessible. My favorite section / "article" so far is the one on Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer). Some of these I've half-listened to as my attention wandered. This is one blog entry NOT worth reading. But since I jotted bazillions of notes (yeah, while driving in my car . . . ), I'm going to record my thoughts here. I'm not going to bother looking up correct spellings, etc. . . . Okay, my notes were a mess, so I went online to find the table of contents (at https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1457806/TOC). I'll add my notes after the official headings . . .

Table of Contents: 

 
Pt. 1: Obsessives, pioneers, and other varieties of minor genius

• The pitchman : Ron Popeil and the conquest of the American kitchen -
  Ron Popeil, pitchman / Ronco inventions. Ron's dad SJ - piece of work! No love. QVC standing ovation. Fascinating. I'd never heard of this guy before, but after listening to this, someone was talking about his untimely death in a plane crash within the last few years . . . 
• The ketchup conundrum : mustard now comes in dozens of different varieties why has ketchup stayed the same? - Ketchup / French's mustard - Grey Poupon story (I remember the ad with the limousine! Hate the stuff, though.) Jim Wiggin / Muscowitz. Ketchup is ketchup. Different flavors, marketing, etc.
• Blowing up : how Nassim Taleb turned the inevitability of disaster into an investment strategy- Blowing Up / Nassir(?) Teleb (?) Victor Niederhofer financial manager / George Souros . . . this one really didn't connect for me. The stock market and making money are not my interest area.
• True colors : hair dye and the hidden history of postwar America- True Colors: Hair Dye and the Hidden History of Post-War America. Shirley Polokoff / George Halperin "Does She or Doesn't She?" campaign. useful fiction. Elon Specht "Because I'm Worth It" L'Oreal. Interesting - women in advertising (products primarily for women!)
• John Rock's error : what the inventor of the birth control pill didn't know about women's health- John Rock - birth control pills / "natural" 28-day cycle / religion important to him (Catholic).
• What the dog saw : Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery- What the Dog Saw - Cesar Milan / calm. Love is work, discipline, reward. Dog Whisperer has presence - posture / facial expressions. "I want more of this!" (Me - perhaps I need to find one of Milan's books. Though Gladwell's observations and understanding of Milan as a human being who relates better to dogs were fascinating in themselves.)

Pt. 2: Theories, predictions and diagnoses - Part Two - Mysteries and Puzzles (I don't know what part one was called.)

• Open secrets : Enron, intelligence and the perils of too much information- Enron - Theories, Predictions, and ??? / Skilling - reporting, truth, comparison to Nazi propaganda / "I hate financial crap / the stock market / etc."
• Million dollar Murray : why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage - Million Dollar Murray - "Power Law" / homelessness / LAPD 44 "bad" cops / not a normal distribution / helping the small percentage who are chronic police, ER problems . . . right wing doesn't want to help people who don't "deserve" it, even though it would pay off in less $$$ spent on that population. left wing doesn't want to help them because it's "not fair" to others in need. Very thought-provoking!
• The picture problem : mammography, air power, and the limits of looking-
  A Picture Problem: Mammography, Air Power, and the Limits of Looking - scud missiles, Zapruder film, seeing photos as "truth" without understanding importance of interpretation
• Something borrowed : should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life?- Something Borrowed: Should Plagiarism Be Able to Ruin Your Life? - this one was quite thought-provoking. Intellectual property / private vs. public interests. I'm not sure I agree with his conclusions, but it was very eye-opening. The music examples were very interesting!  Enhancement vs. derivative works
• Connecting the dots : the paradoxes of intelligence reform- Connecting the Dots: The Paradoxes of Intelligence Reform. Retrospective makes a difference! "creeping determinism" / very interesting material . . . and insights on humans and perceptions
• The art of failure : why some people choke and others panic- The Art of Failure: Why Some People Choke and Others Panic. Choke = thinking too much, losing flow and skill. Panic = not thinking, just blindly reacting. Tennis e.g., scuba diving, gold
• Blowup : who can be blamed for a disaster like the Challenger explosion? No one, and we'd better get used to it - Blowup: Who Can be Blamed for Challenger Disaster - risk / homeostasis /

Pt. 3: Personality, character and intelligence - Part Three - Personality, Character, and Intelligence

• Late bloomers : why do we equate genius with precocity?- Late Bloomers - ??? Fountain - writer guy / creativity and youth / Cezanne stories . . . I'm not sure where this article is going. Perhaps I'm just not paying close enough attention? Patrons / success depending on others around you . . .
• Most likely to succeed : how do we hire when we can't tell who's right for the job.- football story / Dan Shonka . . . / how we *think* someone will perform vs. how they actually do / education example - standardized test scores and how student scores reflect on teaching quality / Measurable difference between poor teachers and excellent teachers in terms of student learning / Wunderlich scores . . . football players. What? / Prediction problems. / education reform efforts / focus on elements of effective teachers / classroom management / financial advisors
• Dangerous minds : criminal profiling made easy/ profiling made profilers / psychology / inaccuracies, low rate
• The talent myth : are smart people overrated?/ Enron example (high IQs and high job performance NOT highly correlated / "stars" / The Dark Side of Charisma / Carol Dweck and mindset / Navy looking for U-boats during WWII
• The New-Boy Network : what do job interviews really tell us? Nolan Meyers / Houston performing arts / extraordinary. why? Teaching non-verbals
• Troublemakers : what pit bulls can teach us about crime. / Guy Clareau picking up 2 year old Jaden from day care / Ottawa?