David And Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, And the Art of Battling Giants
nishtha says:
This book was an easy read full of interesting examples and stories illustrating "occasions in which difficulties paradoxically turn out to be desirable". For what Gladwell was trying to accomplish through it, it is well-done. I guess I just didn't find it particularly memorable or impactful personally. And as to why that might be, I feel like it might be because Gladwell mostly focused on explaining the reality of things and how various people harnessed a disadvantage as an advanta...ge, but he didn't really outline in practical terms how the reader could do the same for themselves. Everything was example-based and most of the examples included were qualities that the subjects largely had no control over. So I guess I was left desiring more of an explicit application section in this book.But as always with my business book reads, I took my own Clift's notes in the front and have a few notes that stood out that I want to remember:-We have a rigid & limited idea of what an advantage is.-The reason more people don't use underdog strategies (i.e. marching the long way around to surprise the stronger enemy in a war, or playing full court press for every play in a basketball game): They're hard. You have to be desperate.-Inverted U-Curve: all positive traits, states & experiences have costs that at high levels may begin to outweigh their benefits. i.e. there is a point where more money stops making our lives better & starts making them worse.-"Relative Deprivation" -- We compare ourselves locally to the people in the same boat as us.-What is learned out of necessity is more powerful than what is learned when learning comes easily.-Love this quote from Martin Luther King Jr. (to a photographer that stepped in to help in a difficult situation rather than choosing to photograph it): "The world doesn't know this happened because you didn't photograph it."-The unique personality mix of successful innovators: open + conscientious + disagreeable. "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard ShawTo sum up: "The powerful are not as powerful as they seem, nor the weak as weak."
jenannen says:
There's so much hype around these books, and I was excited to finally dig into one. However, I was pretty disappointed. This is a very pop-science, pseudo-science kind of book. I didn't find anything in it to be revelatory or surprising. Much of it is common sense dressed up with a cherry picked study or interview or two. His examples often bothered me. I especially am annoyed by the girls basketball team anecdote. I'm a unathletic suburbanite who played basketball as a girl in a town not very far from the South Bay town profiled. It felt gross that Gladwell celebrates the unathletic rich kids who win with full court press over less privileged girls who just want to play a fun, competitive game of rec basketball. These girls are not underdogs when their wealthy coach can bring in assistant coaches from his tech company who are a former professional athlete and his daughter, who played for Stanford. That's not normal. Your dad's a CEO and he brings in a ex-NFL player and college basketball player to coach you? That is not common even in well off suburbs. That is very far from underdog status.Girls with dorky, well educated parents are somehow disadvantaged athletically- more than girls with unstable home lives or who go to bad schools? No way. And Gladwell doesn't seem to have a clue about basketball- full court press doesn't work at the college or professional level as a sustained winning strategy. At the middle school level it works because it's still a learning environment, and these girls aren't pros! It's a rec league! Wiping out other teams is not considered good sportsmanship at that level- you put in weaker players to give them play time when you're too far ahead and it's okay if the other team makes some baskets. I totally sympathize with the parents on the sidelines yelling at the coach for these tactics- they're watching their daughters get shut out again and again. It breaks the social, community rules of the game, which DO have a good reason, namely learning basketball skills and having fun. Do the "underdog" team learn basketball skills or good sportsmanship? No, they learn how to win- but they don't learn how to play basketball. Gladwell celebrates the coach (not the girls) for being an outsider who "breaks the rules" to win unconventionally - but really he has two insiders as his assistant coaches who game the system (using a tactic we all know and chose not to use regularly) put in place for communal benefit. Really lame.MoreLess
This book was an easy read full of interesting examples and stories illustrating "occasions in which difficulties paradoxically turn out to be desirable". For what Gladwell was trying to accomplish through it, it is well-done. I guess I just didn't find it particularly memorable or impactful personally. And as to why that might be, I feel like it might be because Gladwell mostly focused on explaining the reality of things and how various people harnessed a disadvantage as an advanta...ge, but he didn't really outline in practical terms how the reader could do the same for themselves. Everything was example-based and most of the examples included were qualities that the subjects largely had no control over. So I guess I was left desiring more of an explicit application section in this book.But as always with my business book reads, I took my own Clift's notes in the front and have a few notes that stood out that I want to remember:-We have a rigid & limited idea of what an advantage is.-The reason more people don't use underdog strategies (i.e. marching the long way around to surprise the stronger enemy in a war, or playing full court press for every play in a basketball game): They're hard. You have to be desperate.-Inverted U-Curve: all positive traits, states & experiences have costs that at high levels may begin to outweigh their benefits. i.e. there is a point where more money stops making our lives better & starts making them worse.-"Relative Deprivation" -- We compare ourselves locally to the people in the same boat as us.-What is learned out of necessity is more powerful than what is learned when learning comes easily.-Love this quote from Martin Luther King Jr. (to a photographer that stepped in to help in a difficult situation rather than choosing to photograph it): "The world doesn't know this happened because you didn't photograph it."-The unique personality mix of successful innovators: open + conscientious + disagreeable. "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard ShawTo sum up: "The powerful are not as powerful as they seem, nor the weak as weak."
jenannen says:
There's so much hype around these books, and I was excited to finally dig into one. However, I was pretty disappointed. This is a very pop-science, pseudo-science kind of book. I didn't find anything in it to be revelatory or surprising. Much of it is common sense dressed up with a cherry picked study or interview or two. His examples often bothered me. I especially am annoyed by the girls basketball team anecdote. I'm a unathletic suburbanite who played basketball as a girl in a town not very far from the South Bay town profiled. It felt gross that Gladwell celebrates the unathletic rich kids who win with full court press over less privileged girls who just want to play a fun, competitive game of rec basketball. These girls are not underdogs when their wealthy coach can bring in assistant coaches from his tech company who are a former professional athlete and his daughter, who played for Stanford. That's not normal. Your dad's a CEO and he brings in a ex-NFL player and college basketball player to coach you? That is not common even in well off suburbs. That is very far from underdog status.Girls with dorky, well educated parents are somehow disadvantaged athletically- more than girls with unstable home lives or who go to bad schools? No way. And Gladwell doesn't seem to have a clue about basketball- full court press doesn't work at the college or professional level as a sustained winning strategy. At the middle school level it works because it's still a learning environment, and these girls aren't pros! It's a rec league! Wiping out other teams is not considered good sportsmanship at that level- you put in weaker players to give them play time when you're too far ahead and it's okay if the other team makes some baskets. I totally sympathize with the parents on the sidelines yelling at the coach for these tactics- they're watching their daughters get shut out again and again. It breaks the social, community rules of the game, which DO have a good reason, namely learning basketball skills and having fun. Do the "underdog" team learn basketball skills or good sportsmanship? No, they learn how to win- but they don't learn how to play basketball. Gladwell celebrates the coach (not the girls) for being an outsider who "breaks the rules" to win unconventionally - but really he has two insiders as his assistant coaches who game the system (using a tactic we all know and chose not to use regularly) put in place for communal benefit. Really lame.MoreLess
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