Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Book review: Gladwell's "David and Goliath"

David and Goliath is perhaps the most well known story in the Bible. It's one that I recently read, so when I ran across Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, I was eager to pick it up. His previous book Outliers still inspires me to this day, so I had high expectations for his latest publication.

I'm happy to say, his new book "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" did not disappoint. With that being said, in each chapter I could kind of predict where he was going to take the story.

This book takes a look at the many advantages and disadvantages that may come up in life. Should you put your kids in a school where the class size is smaller, or larger? What's the advantage and disadvantage? Gladwell roots for the underdog, the David, in these examples to help illustrate why bigger isn't always better. This book truly will have you looking at situations and decisions with a different frame of mind. Because, as Gladwell ever so clearly talks about, there comes a point where more doesn't matter, where having more money has no more benefit than not having enough. It levels out to not mattering as much. 
In example so many of us can relate to, Gladwell writes about the struggles and benefits of class sizes. It's here we're introduced to the inverted U-Curve; small class sizes of, say, 10-12 don't produce any better test scores or relationships than class sizes pushing 30+. There's a point where there's too small and too big. Much like Goliath, being too big presents its own problems as does being too small. 

This book will get you thinking, and will end your brain. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing it's one of those books you can read over and over and pick out new things each time. I certainly enjoyed reading this book and recommend you pick it up.


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