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David and Goliath Underdogs Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell 8601400205693 Books

Download As PDF : David and Goliath Underdogs Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell 8601400205693 Books

David and Goliath Underdogs Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell 8601400205693 Books

Fascinating book! Must read to get your head wrapped around some amazing trends and media-driven information to grasp a societal understanding of what is going on from a viewpoint most do NOT see or look for.


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David and Goliath Underdogs Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell 8601400205693 Books Reviews

Great book, changes the way you think and gives perfect examples.

The two main points I took away from this book

•too much of any good thing will lead to a bad thing (and vice versa).
•I would much rather be a big fish in a small pond than be a small fish in a large pond.

^Read the book to find out why. I recommend this for anyone.
Headline This book will be impactful for those that enjoy long stories/narratives to make a point.

Book Summary The author points out stories of inspiration to encourage people to overcome difficulties or adversity. The author also strongly cautions taking on too much adversity as the result may be the opposite of what is intended. The thesis of the book would be, "Through these stories, I want to explore two ideas. The first is that much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts, because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty. And second, that we consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong. We misread them. We misinterpret them. Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness" (, 48). The author successfully attributes narratives throughout the book to make these points seem real. The narratives also tug at one's heartstrings in a way that makes the objective of the story become vivid. Gladwell further evidences his point by offering simple examples such as a U-curve so that individuals may understand the tipping point as best as possible between various scenarios.

One of the best stories in the book related to this tipping point was of a student who attended Harvard for a degree in science. While this student was in the 99th percentile in the world for her brilliance, the constant comparing of herself to other "smarter" students ended up holding her back. Had she gone to a school with a slightly less competitive nature, she would have excelled. Gladwell comments, "We compare ourselves to those in the same situation as ourselves" (, 869). Gladwell does well with this because while many book about inspiration focus purely on the positive aspect of life, few are able to caution the opposite effect that may result from too much positivity (positivity used loosely here). "What matters, in determining the likelihood of getting a science degree, is not just how smart you are. It’s how smart you feel relative to the other people in your classroom" (, 922).

While Gladwell started this book well, with stories and points being made precisely and clearly, the book does not end that way. As you read past the first few chapters, the stories become longer and it takes away from the points being made clearly. This is a good and a bad thing all at once. The way the stories are written, they are engaging, making you feel like you're reading a historical novel. However, when one becomes too engrossed in the stories, and the points are made in only a sentence or two out of several pages of story, the points being made seem to lose their effect.

The points made hold a solidarity to them. For example, it is difficult to argue the fact that too much or too little of anything can be both good and bad. Gladwell references the U-curve (shaped like a parabola) in the first few chapters stating that the perfect point between good and bad is at the tip of the U, going beyond that will see minimal results, going less than that point will demonstrate a lack of results. As nearly everything in this world is a binary, this is a difficult point to argue because it holds true in almost every situation (I can't think of a situation where it does not). The beauty of the discussion, however, is not in the inability to argue the points being made, rather it is in the simplicity that it is explained. Gladwell takes what may be a very difficult concept and explains it in a way that nearly every person may understand.

Ultimately, I would recommend this book. The self-development and psychological factors are well-presented. If you are a person who does not enjoy stories, read the first several chapters then skim the rest of the book. The truths that are recognized in this text are basic truths that every person may benefit from learning or becoming aware of.
There is a particular movement throughout the chapters of this book which take you on a journey through the process of advantages versus disadvantages, split into three segments Identifying vantage points, identifying advantages in apparent disadvantages, and the exchanges of power (as they relate to advantages and disadvantages). All advantages may seem to have disadvantages, but there’s more that meets the eye. Just as World War Z highlighted mother-nature’s greatest strength as its greatest weakness, our seemingly disadvantageous circumstances have more advantages than imagined. This idea is postured in the story of David and Goliath in the Old Testament, where David is a small and feeble character who stands up against the mighty giant warmonger, Goliath. The story ends in a twist where David defeats the giant when everyone expects the giant to win. Gladwell uses this story as an invitation to a paradigm shift - that we might see disadvantages in a new light.

Gladwell does a great job capturing plenty of true stories of people with disadvantages, or in disadvantageous situations. The first three chapters focus on redefining our situations, followed by the next three which are cause-and-effect relationships (how our disadvantages shape our lives for advantages), followed by more chapters of redefining disadvantages through questioning what real power looks like. Gladwell does a good job of interweaving these stories with data such as charts and graphs, as well as historical data to defend his main idea. Although Gladwell makes great points, you might find his story-telling to become redundant. You begin to understand where the stories are going and get used to Gladwell’s style early on in the reading. This is to be expected since Gladwell is a well-known journalist; for he collects his thoughts thoroughly and uses a set format to write his stories. Only once did I find myself questioning Gladwell’s sources, and that was on his information about Goliath’s health. He only quotes one source and uses that source heavily to prove the point that Goliath had an illness in his brain that made him big and made his movements slow. Other than that, I appreciated his use of sources.

Overall, this book is well worth reading as it can change your thinking for the better. Advantages have disadvantages, but disadvantages present the opportunity to discover new-found advantages. This is a positive message to put any underdog on top in all kinds of negative circumstances. Everyone faces giants in life. Like Goliath, those giants call us out to battle with them on their terms, but we don’t have to meet those giants on their terms. Normally when we do, we lose. Rather, we can find strengths in the greatest of weaknesses, and opportunities in all kinds of situations that turn disadvantages upside-down.
Fascinating book! Must read to get your head wrapped around some amazing trends and media-driven information to grasp a societal understanding of what is going on from a viewpoint most do NOT see or look for.