Malcolm and What the Dog Saw

Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Due to our present financial situation, I've had to hold off on buying new books. But like a person of ill-fortune who finds scraps of food in the street, I've gone back to my bookshelf and reread old friends. While the spark of new discovery is no longer there, the pulse beats of soothing wisdom wear well in the ruts of my neural pathways. It's all good.

I recently received Malcolm Gladwell's book What the Dog Saw for a Christmas present. What an absolute wonderful spark! Normally, with a book like this, I would scorch through one reading and then go back and read it twice more. Not this time. I plan on sipping this baby like strong whiskey. I'm gonna keep adding ice cubes till the flavor's gone.

You know how when you were a kid and dreamed of being a rock star? You know, when you had hair. You'd get up on stage with your crew and lay down such powerful beats-n-chords you'd melt the girls in the first hundred rows from the heat. And then when those vocals kicked in the girls' heat turned into a dampness... Well, that and your drop-dead good looks carried on by a tight body - underneath all that hair.

It's that connection man. That Ed Sullivan-Beatles-girls-screaming-losing-their-minds-connection. That grab-the-soul-n-squeeze-till-it-hurts-so-good connection. 

In the preface to What the Dog Saw, Malcolm talks about a similar connection (minus the wetness). Malcolm talks about how "good writing succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head..." This glimpse into someone else's head is what the book is about.

As a writer, you dream of laying down such powerful music your readers white knuckle ride your words. It doesn't get any better than that. Right now I'm listening to Nazareth's Love Hurts and I am most certainly dreaming...

Happy New Years!

Comments

[Dick Richards]

Thanks for this Dave: "good writing succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head..."

Diving in to the new book after this week, and that makes for a good guide.