Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. I had read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference and thought I would give another of his books a try. Gladwell is eloquent, organized and thorough in his research. He lays out his perspective in a methodical yet entertaining manner.
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures covers a wide variety of topics from a Catholic doctor who created the birth control pill to the women who did copy writing for hair care products in the 50’s to why ketchup only has one popular variety. The book is divided into three parts 1. Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius 2. Theories, Predictions, and Diagnoses 3. Personality, Character, and Intelligence. In all of the sections, Gladwell poses his main question for him to research and then constructs a whole story around it. What’s the difference between panicking and choking? How do we know whether someone is bad, or smart, or capable of doing something really well? What if we look at that problem through someone else’s eyes, from inside someone else’s head?
In the title subject, having to to with a profile of “The Dog Whisperer,” Cesar Millan, Gladwell discusses in detail about why Milan does what he does, how he does what he does, and even “what the dog saw” from Milan’s interaction with the dog, I particularly liked the discussion on body movement.
In analyzing body movement, one looks at how is weight shifted, how fluid and symmetrical is it, what effort does it involve, is it direct or indirect, is it quick or slow, strong or light, what is the intention, is it bound or free, what is the precision? Is the posture and gesture in harmony? This is called phrasing. Great communicators match intent with phrasing.
Clinton and Regan had great phrasing. Bush W, not so much. W swayed metronomically back and forth with a gaze, a squinty fixated look. It is primitive, regressed, adolescent, eternally boyish. He moves like a boy even when event calls for a grown up response. Not a great communicator. Since the Democratic and Republican Conventions were in progress as I explored this topic, communication phrasing was salient.
Gladwell explores so many topics in such a thorough manner that I’m left exhausted by the end. A good mental workout.
Curiosity about the interior life of other people’s day-to-day work is one of the most fundamental of human impulses.”
