David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

Little, Brown, Oct 15, 2013 - Psychology - 528 pages

Malcolm Gladwell, the #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, offers his most provocative---and dazzling---book yet.

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 Gladwell challenges 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 classrooms---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 bestsellers---The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw---David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.

What people are saying

User Review  - coachsue - Overstock.com

The fabulous writing of Malcolm Gladwell is a gift unto itself. To have found this hardback available at Overstock, was a well-priced gift. My only regret is that Overstock has discontinued the sale of books I will continue to be an "Overstockaholic!"

Review: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

User Review  - Niklas Borglund - Goodreads

First of all, David and Goliath is a good book. If you've read one of his previous books, you will probably like this one to. Gladwell takes the "underdog that ends up winning scenario" starting with ...

About the author

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the Time 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
• Author: Malcolm Gladwell
• Edition: large print
• Publisher: Little, Brown, 2013
• ISBN: 0316239852, 9780316239851
• Length: 528 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / Social Psychology