David and Goliath
We all know that underdogs can win -- that's what the David versus Goliath legend tells us, and we've seen it with our own eyes. Or have we? In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, with his unparalleled ability to grasp connections others miss, uncovers the hidden rules that shape the balance between the weak and the mighty, the powerful and the dispossessed. Gladwell examines the battlefields of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, takes us into the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, and digs into the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms–all in an attempt to demonstrate how fundamentally we misunderstand the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages. When is a traumatic childhood a good thing? When does a disability leave someone better off? Do you really want your child to go to the best school he or she can get into? Why are the childhoods of people at the top of one profession after another marked by deprivation and struggle? Drawing upon psychology, history, science, business, and politics, David and Goliath is a beautifully written book about the mighty leverage of the unconventional. Millions of readers have been waiting for the next Malcolm Gladwell book. That wait is over. - Publisher.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
21mentions
21people
2013–2025years
33% recommend52% neutral14% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- There are several interesting studies on colleges, their ranking, and the outcomes of individuals. It's really well outlined in the book "David and Goliath" by Malcom Gladwell. Top schools don't necessarily increase your chances of getting and advanced degree or being successful. In fact, it can do the opposite. I recommend reading what he has to say and the studies, and let that help you determine if it's worth going.
- John Lee is one of my favorite narrators and his reading of the Count of Monte Cristo is wonderful (even at 47 hours).
Ron Chernow’s biographies of Grant, Hamilton, and Washington.
Candice Millard‘s “Hero’s of the Empire” (about Winston Churchill) and “River of Doubt” (Theodore Roosevelt) are both interesting looks at important historical figures in situations we don’t often prescribe to them. Her first book “Destiny of the Republic” (James Garfield) is also good but the other two are superior.
“David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell.
- I don't really think I'm going to make anyone mad. Tribal biases are way too strong for that.
"God-shaped hole" is a bit silly, the primary purpose of spirituality is to allay fears of uncertainty. Materialism allays those fears the same way that belief does. Any position on that spectrum is as valid as any other.
Spirituality, the reckoning with of the profoundly unknowable, is equally doable by both materialists and by believers, and I often see people who proclaim themselves as uber-materialist and hyper-critical of religious idiocy, go whole-hog with their own forms of myth, legend, priesthood, and dogma.
If materialists read the Bible with the same reverence that they read Shakespeare with, they'd see why their positions are so silly. David and Goliath is a phenomenal read on the dynamics of ego and courage. If Shakespeare had been born in that day, he'd have been on the committee writing the Bible.
It's just that the Bible is so old that you need to actually understand history to really grasp it. Of course, there's an entire industry of people devoted to making it accessible. Religion deals with far, far, far more than just the stuff of belief.
My position on materialism vs everything else is that since all positions on the spectrum are equally likely to be true, and there are far more positions on the spectrum that aren't materialism than that are, then materialism is vanishingly unlikely. Reductionist scientific reasoning is a poor tool to parse the metaphysical landscape with. More realms than just the physical can be conceived of without even having to consider the supernatural. These realms need to be unified somehow if we want to avoid the illogic of dualism.
- Malcolm Gladwell's book David and Goliath talks about that example (among others). It's a pretty interesting read.
- Some of my favourite books or books currently on my wishlist (in no particular order). Many of these have been mentioned in other comments:
* Harry Potter series (thankfully I read this as a kid when I had more time)
* Thinking, Fast and Slow
* How to Win Friends and Influence People
* David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
* Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man
* The Martian: A Novel
* How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq
* Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
* Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
* Outliers: The Story of Success
* The Rare Find: How Great Talent Stands Out
* The Martian's Daughter: A Memoir
* Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
* Ghost in the Wires: My Adventure as the World's Most Wanted Hacker
* The Better Angels of our Future
* Daemon
- david and goliath by gladwell is indeed a good motivational/justificational book for underdog or lean startup aiming at big corporate.
