David And Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, And The Art Of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell's latest bestseller, David and Goliath, will leave you reeling. It nullifies so many things you thought you already knew. Just as you think you've recovered from all the eye-openers in Outliers, here he comes again with new revelations to knock you off your feet.

I've heard Gladwell say that he's just a storyteller. but I say he's one of the great thinkers of our time...an historian who filters out the untruths, a mathematician who helps you solve all the puzzles, and a psychiatrist who gets into your head. Since the running theme throughout the book is that giants don't always win, he demonstrates it well with many cases. The truth about the biblical story of David and Goliath is shocking. Little David not only "flipped the script" by changing how the fight would proceed - not hand to hand combat, but utilizing the sling, a popular skill he had perfected. Goliath was vulnerable in many ways; he had a disease that affected his vision, he moved slowly, his armor was too heavy and it left an exposed forehead. David took his shot.

Gladwell cites many examples to prove his point. Lawrence of Arabia with his motley crew also triumphed over 1200 Turks because they had an "advantage." Underdogs often have an advantage. His men happened to know the desert better... where the water was, how to avoid the snakes, how to survive. Find your advantage.

You may have heard of the concept Big Fish in a Little Pond and vice versa, but not like this. Gladwell interestingly relates how each year millions of students are faced with the task of choosing a college to attend. But they may want to revise their thinking once they read about Caroline. She was smart as a whip, top of her class, loved science since she was a kid. She always knew what she wanted to be. Like most students, she chose the fanciest, most prestigious college that would accept her. When she got there, the environment was different, courses were harder, students more competitive and seemed to think on a higher level. Unable to comprehend the science work and feeling demoralized (The smarter the people in your class, the dumber you feel), she switched to the humanities. If Caroline had chosen her SECOND school, if she had been a Big Fish in a Little Pond, she would be a happy scientist today. (Gladwell says that many former math and physics majors are lawyers today.)

This example is cited again with the impressionist painters in Paris in the 1800s, Monet, Renoir, etc. Their work was always rejected in The Salon, which was the most prestigious art show in the world (Rejects often committed suicide). Their work was different. They finally decided to start their own exhibit...become Big Fish in a Little Pond to beat the giant. Their work sells for millions today.

The most interesting concept in the book is the "Inverted -U Curve." It will turn your own thinking upside-down. Gladwell says we operate in an inverted U- shaped world. You can disprove a prevailing universal belief by using it. Here's the math: Supposing you think money makes parenting easier, you'll note that the extra resources on the left side of the curve seem to show just that. And as you reach the level top, no real difference is seen. But as you head down the right side, money makes the situation WORSE. You'll want to read about it for sure. ( Dad, what do you mean we can't afford it and I don't value money? You have a Maserati and Mom has a Porsche!) Gladwell explains it clearly. It's the same principal for "smaller class sizes." Who would debunk the long-held belief that small classes are better? Not when you head down the right side of the inverted-U. (Not enough opinions for good discussion, and more.)

You must read about the $50,000 private boarding school in Connecticut that had every resource you can imagine, and be shocked when you examine the right side of the inverted U curve here. Many things are WORSE (although the pianos are all Steinways, so if you're in a practice room playing Chopsticks, it's going to sound really good.) p. 61.

Reading about the "Three Strikes" law in California and how it came to be initiated by a murdered child's father, is mesmerizing. It certainly would seem workable though...the third offense, they go in, 25 to life. They're off the streets. But it didn't work. It had to be changed. The right side of the curve shows why. ( No one looked at how criminals minds work. How they'll be punished is not on their minds when they do a job. Too distracting.)

Even more surprising in Gladwell's book is the Civil Rights leaders using old slave trickery to fight the evil racism giant. Slaves had relied on the ways of trickster heros in folklore to get back at slave masters. Brer Rabbit, Anansi the Spider and others taught them cunning and devious ways. Read how Wyatt Walker, cunning and sly himself, got Bull Connor to do what he wanted in the name of advancing Civil Rights, and how he staged events history doesn't know about.

Gladwell introduces the theory of Desirable Difficulties. Could being bombed produce a Desirable Difficulty? Perhaps. Three things can happen: you could be killed, you could be traumatized by the experience (called a Near Miss), or you could be made happier and stronger because you were spared a couple of times, and it makes you feel invincible. That's called a Remote Miss. Remote Misses appear often in the book.

It's also desirable to have dyslexia, at least according to Gladwell. He says you can beat this giant too. Just look at the lives of people who did it. The most famous trial lawyer in the country couldn't read. He taught himself to memorize and perfected his listening ability. Others did unusual things, even bold things we wouldn't think of doing to excel. Read all about it. You'll love it like I did.

Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won. Or should he have?

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.

Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms---all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity. In the tradition of Gladwell's previous bestsellers, David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.