About the book

The expectations of the book are high due to his “Tipping point” book. David & Goliath is not an disappointment. And if I would have read this as a first Gladwell book and after that the Tipping point I might have found this book better. The thing is that I’m trying to say that Tipping point is a great book. But anyways, don’t get hesitant. Malcom Gladwell’s book about David and Goliath is worth reading. Go!  

How was the actual reading of the book?

This book is for everybody. People who are interested about science, it is for parents, it is for business people and it is for people interested in life in large.

Gladwell tells his story through nine different characters. Those range from modern people to historic figures. Some of the portraits are very detailed and some rather lengthy. 

Malcom Gladwell explains how one should not take the apparent as a fact. He argues that we should look beyond the apparent. For example how parenting economics influence parents ability to raise their children. Or how Impressionists found their place in the world of art. Or how relative deprivation influences the suicide rate of different nations. 

Secondly Gladwell states that underdogs have opportunities that are not apparent. And underdogs have nothing to lose. Famous underdogs are Lawrence of Arabia who defeated Turks. Martin Luther King who defeated racism. And Ferrari which defeated Ford in Le Mans year after year (not an example in the book…;-)  

What are the key learnings of the book? 

Malcom Gladwell has two central ideas and a hint.

1) “Giants are not what we think they are”:

–      “Giants are not what we think they are” is a valuable lesson in the world of Internet.

–      All the current Internet goliaths where actually originally davids. Take any of the top ten Internet sites which did not exist twenty years ago.

2) “Underdogs win all the time”, but underdog strategies are hard:

–      Underdogs and opportunities are packaged for example in a form of dyslexia. Dyslexia is a desirable difficulty and it can be turned into advantage.

–      Not all difficulties are negative, because humans can adapt their behavior. For example a dyslexic became top courthouse lawyer because of compensation learning i.e. his ability to listen and memorize carefully.  

–      But the underdog strategies are hard, because those are not to be found from any books. One have to discover those by themselves.

For giants there is a valuable lesson to be learned:

–      “There comes a point where the best-intentioned application of power and authority begins to backfire.”

–      Northern Ireland is a sad example how power is misused and what went wrong the usage of power.

–      Gladwell advises that one should carefully evaluate how and where to use ones power. And are there other means to an end?

How should we change according to the book?

Goliaths should learn their limits of power and Davids should deploy a suitable strategy to become a giant.

What should I personally do? 

Evaluate ones desirable difficulties. 

Summary

Malcolm Gladwell’s book tells a story about the art of battling giants. He makes his points thoroughly and not only leaning to success stories. In this kind of book it’s important that the reader can relate to the topics. That’s why Gladwell has succeeded again. He has taken into consideration the main target group – his readers.  

The book in six words – Everybody can be David, not Goliath.