David and Goliath
Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Ratings115
Average rating3.8
We all know that underdogs can win -- that's what the David versus Goliath legend tells us, and we've seen it with our own eyes. Or have we? In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, with his unparalleled ability to grasp connections others miss, uncovers the hidden rules that shape the balance between the weak and the mighty, the powerful and the dispossessed. Gladwell examines the battlefields of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, takes us into the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, and digs into the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms–all in an attempt to demonstrate how fundamentally we misunderstand the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages. When is a traumatic childhood a good thing? When does a disability leave someone better off? Do you really want your child to go to the best school he or she can get into? Why are the childhoods of people at the top of one profession after another marked by deprivation and struggle? Drawing upon psychology, history, science, business, and politics, David and Goliath is a beautifully written book about the mighty leverage of the unconventional. Millions of readers have been waiting for the next Malcolm Gladwell book. That wait is over. - Publisher.
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Malcom Gladwell gets a lot of flak, about not getting the facts “straight”. Which I think is not really what he's trying to do. He's not a researcher as much as an essayist. So whether or not he got the science right is not very important to me as a reader. Although it would be a waste if certain falsehoods become a publicly accepted fact.
Regarding it as an essay I enjoyed reading Gladwell's optimistic style of combining certain stories to create a common thread. I didn't care much for the gimmick of starting a story very positively and asking a rhetoric question like: “He should be proud of what he achieved right? Everything is great now”. And then appending: “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
On the whole I enjoyed the premise of the book. Giants can be defeated. And being smaller or weaker does not have to be the end of it. It can also mean that you can be more creative and still outwit someone.
It might sound super obvious, but it is nice to be reminded of it. People will never voluntarily choose a path of more resistance like dyslexia, or worse. But adversity does cultivate cunning and creativity.
