David and Goliath
Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Ratings151
Average rating3.8
Interesting distinctions around our assumptions around what makes for an advantage. And Gladwell does his usual entertaining job with his storytelling. I enjoyed this book, but was ultimately disappointed with a very poor wrap-up which left me feeling like he either ran out of puff at the end, or otherwise didn't understand the core patterns that linked all of the chapters together.
Started off well, but I guess it flattened out towards the end. A good read nevertheless.
I have loved everything Gladwell does. I find his logic the most fascinating experience. Somehow, he gives you a glimpse into the subject matter but also into the way he thinks and processes information. All of which is held together by incredible writing. Visceral. Immersive. Cerebral. Academic.
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.
I'd already read versions of a lot of these online, and I might not have picked up the book except that library book club is reading it, but overall, fairly interesting and thought-provoking. The most powerful chapter is definitely the one about the Three Strikes law. (You can read a little bit about that here.) It's not all necessarily groundbreaking, but easily digestible and thought-provoking. [b:Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything 1202 Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Freakonomics, #1) Steven D. Levitt https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327909092s/1202.jpg 5397]-y, Malcolm Gladwell-y stuff.
Anytime I see a Malcolm Gladwell book, it immediately goes on my “to read” list. The way he breaks down the topics he covers maximizes the interesting possibilities and puts it together in a way that, if you try just a little bit, just might expand your life. With a title like “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants,” how could this book not be an absolutely interesting read?
Yet again, Gladwell delivers the goods. This is a fantastic book! Definitely worth the read.
The titular conflict between David and Goliath gets the book started and will probably surprise you with his take on the battle. Right away Gladwell strips the issue to its basic components and shows how this may not have been such an unfair fight after all! Or, perhaps it was unfair in the opposite direction from what you'd think! It is a lot more interesting than a lot of people might think, and more eye-opening.
Besides David & Goliath, Gladwell talks about the Blitzkreig bombings of London and how they actually STRENGTHENED the will of the British people (especially Londoners) and how “near misses” effect individuals and groups. This segues into the 1960's Civil Rights Movement which is amazingly interesting and revealing. These sections actually revealed to me how “near misses” have affected my development.
He also spends quite a bit of time discussing dyslexia and business, giving great personal examples of how setbacks in an individual's life, under the right circumstances for that person can actually provide just enough push to make them exceptional in other ways to not only compensate, but excel in life and/or business.
Overall, this book was fantastic. I highly recommend it to pretty much any reader.
I listened to the unabridged audiobook and the narrator was fantastic (it was Malcolm Gladwell himself and he does a good job with narration, which isn't always true of other authors).
I've been a huge fan of Gladwell's writing since reading his first book, The Tipping Point, in 2000. I am always astounded by the way he thinks, the thought processes he employs to bring his point into focus. It never fails to impress me how he can take disparate events or situations and show their commonality, then turn them to show how they make his argument true.
In this book Gladwell uses his usual process to show that there are many times when we think a perceived weakness is an incredible strength and a debilitating event can be the catalyst of something incredible.
Gladwell is one of my favorite authors and I enjoy reading everything he writes. Having that said, I fell this is his weakest book to date. Usually when I'm done with a Gladwell book I feel like I learned something new or gained some new insight. That isn't the case with David and Goliath. It feels a bit too formulaic and the conclusions are pretty obvious.
Gladwell's books are all quite similar - he is forever proving that individuals are more than the sum of their parts and that community, time, and culture all play strong roles in our development of a sense of self. More interesting stories that I keep relating to everything else I'm reading!
Definitely a good read, but not his best work. Underdogs aren't created by luck; but by a series of events/choices/decisions they make. Seems pretty obvious to me, but it is nice to read it.
Gladwell is taking a lot of heat for biasing the examples he chooses in his books to make points that are often later shown to be somewhat tenuous. That may be the case, but he is a heck of a writer. He knows how to tell a compelling story and the conversations he sparks go on for years.
Whatever harm that may come from the lack of rigorousness in his brand of pop-psychology is easily overshadowed by the positive cultural impact that comes from people giving serious consideration to his ideas and how they apply to their personal lives and to society on a larger scale. As with any book, don't read it passively, decide what you buy and what needs to be further examined. Enjoy it, it's a fun read.
[Update]
I came across a cool and relevant quote in The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran from Darwin's The Descent of Man:
“...false facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path toward errors is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened.”