David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.599; Pages 305 A STAFF WRITER of the well-known New Yorker magazine, Malcolm Gladwell is among the most original and innovative of contemporary thinkers. During the past decade or so, he has written several stimulating books traversing politics, sociology, psychology and anthropology which have refreshingly challenged conventional prejudices and myths, providing insightful explanations of human motivations and behaviour. The Tipping Point (2000) explained how great ideas, new behavioural norms and revolutionary messages that change the mindsets and histories of nations, are communicated within societies and given wing by people classified as “connectors”, “salesmen” and “mavens”, pushing societies to tipping point — “levels at which change becomes unstoppable”. In Outliers (2008) Gladwell extended his observation to the conundrum of people with exceptional ability and high IQ who don’t make it to the top of the greasy pole of success. In Blink (2005) he advised readers not to under-estimate the accuracy of first impressions and the power of intuition. And in What the Dog Saw (2009), Gladwell reconstructed events such as the Challenger spaceship disaster of 1986 in which seven astronauts perished and complex cultural phenomena such as societal acceptance of women unapologetically colouring their hair. His latest international bestseller David & Goliath which has as its subtitle ‘Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants’ is inspired by the biblical face-off between the fully armoured man mountain Goliath representing the Philistines, and the Israeli shepherd boy David equipped with a mere slingshot which resulted in a victory for the latter. Through engaging vignettes and anecdotes, Gladwell disproves conventional wisdom, and highlights how hopelessly disadvantageous, difficult and overwhelming situations can be transformed into improbable victories. Divided into three sections, each represents three case histories to demonstrate the “advantage of disadvantages”, the “theory of desirable difficulty” and the “limits of power”. Can a Mumbai-born father who had never played basketball coach his daughter Anjali’s team to win the National Junior Basketball tournament in America? Vivek Ranadive “was an underdog and misfit, and that gave him the freedom to try things no one else dreamed of” and succeed beyond expectations. In the second story in the first section, Gladwell busts the popular belief — a selling point of elite schools — that favourable teacher-pupil ratios necessarily result in better learning outcomes. And in the third, through the sad history of one Caroline Sacks, the author illustrates that failing to secure admission into the university of your choice could be a blessing in disguise. In the second part of this iconoclastic compendium, Gladwell argues that graduating from the school of hard knocks and experiencing “a desirable degree of difficulty” could greatly improve your chances of success in life and chosen vocation. Which parent would welcome dyslexia in her children? The histories of David Boies, today “one of the most famous trial lawyers in the world”, and Brain Grazer “now one of the most successful movie producers in Hollywood”, in Gladwell’s latest oeuvre show how these individuals…
