Over the last 10 years or so I’d say Malcolm Gladwell has become one of my favorite writers. I enjoy his point of view, and the fact that he writes about interesting things from a unique perspective. I look forward to his book releases, and “David and Goliath” was no exception. The book came out at the perfect time, I was on a six week break, and I was challenging myself to read 5 books during my hiatus. I was looking SO forward to diving in to it.
Sidebar:
Donald Rumsfeld has a quote attributed to him that I’ve become very fond of…. In speaking on military action … He said “there are KNOWNS, there are KNOWN UNKNOWNS, and there are UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS”… he has to negotiate all three when making a decision. I’ve adopted this paradigm for many things including works in non-fiction.
Unknown/Unknowns are by far the most interesting reads because the writer has to convince the reader that something exists, and then explain how he found its existence. This is why the Bible, and religion will always be a dominant idea.
I’d say Gladwell’s second book “Blink” falls into the unknown/unknown category. He wrote masterfully about the genius of the split second decision maker, through the prisms of an NFL quarterback turning 22 moving pieces into one frozen snapshot, a marriage counselor who could observe a couples dialogue for 15 minutes and know with 90% accuracy if their marriage would last 15 years, and a ranger who knew instinctively that the only way to survive a raging oncoming brush fire was to run directly into it. Facinating material!
Known/Unknowns are interesting because the writer is attempting to create the definitive work on a subject that is universally believed to exist. This is why the JFK assassination will always be fertile ground. Gladwell’s first book “Tipping Point”, and third book “Outliers” fall into this category. “Tipping Point” was Gladwell establishing laws for what had been previously called happenstance. “Outliers” was his unveiling of the “Ten Thousand Hour Rule” essentially a statement to the world proclaiming that greatness requires very little luck. Covered ground and yet still very interesting.
Gladwell’s fourth book “What the Dog Saw” is a collection of his “New Yorker” articles but in a nutshell it borrows from “Outliers” as it chronicles the conception of a genius moment.
Knowns are by far the least interesting thing to write about. This is why newspapers are dying. Writing about factual accounts without a great idea is boring which brings us to “David and Goliah.”
Expectations aside, “David and Goliath” is by far the worst book I’ve ever read. The distance between it and “Blink” is akin to the distance between the guy that thought the earth was flat versus the guy that knew it wasn't. The book is dead, lifeless, uninspiring, and worst of all lazy. At best this book could be used as propaganda in a third world nation, but not middle class America. It’s “Outliers” for NOBODYS. It’s as if Gladwell had a 5 book deal, only had enough zeal for 3, and mailed in the last 2. I kept hoping while reading (for the sake of our relationship) that it would get better; alas it never did. I kept wondering who was supposed to be the audience? Smart people couldn’t be his audience for this book? People that read his other 4 books could not be the audience for this?
I used precious time reading this book that I can never EVER get back!
I feel used. I feel outraged. I feel hate.
