What the Dog Saw was met with mainly positive reviews. It received profiles in many high-profile publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times and The Independent.[1][5][6][7][8] In particular, Gladwell was praised for his writing and storytelling, and reviewers looked upon the essay format positively, with The Guardian stating "one virtue of What the Dog Saw is that the pieces are perfectly crafted: they achieve their purpose more effectively when they aren't stretched out."[5] What The Dog Saw was criticized for its use of statistics and its lack of technical grounding.[1]
What the Dog Saw debuted at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List.[9] It spent three weeks in the top 3 and a total of 16 weeks on the chart, appearing concurrently with Gladwell's previous book Outliers.[10][11] It was also an Amazon Top 25 seller for the month of November.[12] What the Dog Saw was named to Bloomberg's top 50 business books of 2009.[13]
