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David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and…
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David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (edition 2013)

by Malcolm Gladwell

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4,2881172,711 (3.74)47
Business. Self-Improvement. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:Audie Award Winner, Nonfiction, 2014
Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia.
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 Gladwellchallenges 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 classroomsâ??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 bestsellersâ??The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Sawâ??David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world a
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Member:vlg24
Title:David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Authors:Malcolm Gladwell
Info:Little, Brown and Company (2013), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
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David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell (Author)

  1. 00
    Underdog: How One Man Turned Hollywood Rejection into the Worldwide Phenomenon of Benji by Joe Camp (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: David and Goliath explores the ways in which underdogs may succeed, while Underdog relates the experiences of one entrepreneur who converted his outsider status into a series of financially successful movies.
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NF
  vorefamily | Feb 22, 2024 |
(2013)NF - Gladwell posits that having disadvantages that appear too much to overcome is not necessarily a bad thing and can in a lot of cases be an overwhelming advantage for the underdog. Pretty good exploration of this premise.KIRKUS REVIEWA far- and free-ranging meditation on the age-old struggle between underdogs and top dogs.Beginning with the legendary matchup between the Philistine giant and the scrawny shepherd boy of the title, New Yorker scribe Gladwell (What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, 2009, etc.) returns continually to his main theme: that there are unsung advantages to being disadvantaged and overlooked disadvantages to being ?advantaged.? Though the book begins like a self-help manual¥an early chapter on a middle school girl's basketball team that devastated more talented opponents with a gritty, full-court press game seems to suggest a replicable strategy, at least in basketball, and a later one shows how it's almost patently easier to accomplish more by being a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pondÂ¥it soon becomes clear that Gladwell is not interested in simple formulas or templates for success. He aims to probe deeply into the nature of underdog-ness and explore why top dogs have long had such trouble with underdogsÂ¥in scholastic and athletic competitions, in the struggle for success or renown in all professions, and in insurgencies and counterinsurgencies the world over. Telling the stories of some amazingly accomplished people, including superlawyer David Boies, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, and childhood-leukemia researcher Jay Freireich, Gladwell shows that deficits one wouldn't wish on anyone, like learning disabilities or deprived childhoods, can require a person to adapt to the world in ways that later become supreme benefits in professional life. On the other hand, children of the newly wealthy who have had every good fortune their parents lacked tend to become less well-equipped to deal with life's random but inevitable challenges.In addition to the top-notch writing one expects from a New Yorker regular, Gladwell rewards readers with moving stories, surprising insights and consistently provocative ideas.Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2013ISBN: 978-0-316-20436-1Page count: 304ppPublisher: Little, BrownReview Posted Online: Aug. 18th, 2013Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1st, 2013
  derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |
Entertaining anecdotes about a variety of asymmetric conflicts: counterinsurgencies, the civil rights movement, nerds winning at basketball, and whether to pick your top school choice; with the basic thesis being that the big guy doesn't always win, especially if the little guy thinks outside of the box. A sprinkling of data to make the book a little more scholarly; would've liked more of this. A fun read anyway. ( )
  yaj70 | Jan 22, 2024 |
Better than expected. ( )
  Local_Decoy | Jan 22, 2024 |
The stories were interesting enough. I really enjoyed his other books; I think I just getting a bit tired of the same old thing. ( )
  ellink | Jan 22, 2024 |
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Gladwell, MalcolmAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Elixir DesignCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gladwell, MalcolmNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
—1 Samuel 16:7
Dedication
For A. L. and for S. F., a real underdog
First words
At the heart of ancient Palestine is the region known as the Shephelah, a series of ridges and valleys connecting the Judaean Mountains to the east with the wide, flat expanse of the Mediterranean plain.
Quotations
Page 274 bottom

It was not the privileged and the fortunate who took in the Jews in France. It was marginal and the damaged, which should remind us that there are real limits to what evil and misfortune can accomplish. If you take away the gift of reading, you create the gift of listening. If you bomb a city, you leave behind death and destruction. But you create a community of remote misses. If you take away a mother or a father, you cause suffering and despair. But one time in ten, out that despair rises an indomitable force. You see the giant and the shepherd in the Valley of Elah and your eye is drawn to the man with the sword and shield and the glittering armor. But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine.
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Business. Self-Improvement. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:Audie Award Winner, Nonfiction, 2014
Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia.
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 Gladwellchallenges 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 classroomsâ??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 bestsellersâ??The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Sawâ??David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world a

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