Malcolm Gladwell is renowned for his earlier works “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers” and his latest offering doesn’t disappoint – David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. Gladwell is a skilled storyteller: weaving numbers with anecdotes to challenge the way you think about how the world operates.
I’m liking
I’m sure we’ve all heard the story of David and Goliath before – but Gladwell provides a stunning and original alternate explanation for the story which paves the way for the rest of his book’s thesis: sometimes things which we think are giants really are not, and things which we think are disadvantages really may not be.
Gladwell draws his examples from a broad range of topics such as sport strategy, classroom sizes, A-league universities, dyslexia, unorthodox cancer researchers, civil rights movement, fighting in Northern Ireland, the three-strikes law and resisting the Nazis.
Things that made me go hmmmm
Critics of Gladwell’s books say that he cherry-picks his anecdotes and statistics to support his narrative and avoids some of the complexities that the bigger picture statistics show. When I read his work, I love that my thinking gets challenged with alternate viewpoints – I see it as a starting point for more research if I’m interested in a topic rather than the final word on a subject.
The conclusion
Gladwell’s takeaway messages about underdogs and disadvantages inspires, is filled with hope and a fresh perspective on the world. His stories stick in your mind and become a great way to start a conversation with someone. Highly recommend.
