LitReactor

Title:

David and Goliath

Who Wrote It?

Malcolm Gladwell, interestingly coiffed journalist, speaker and influential thinker.

Plot in a Box:

Gladwell looks into what really makes society’s winners and losers and explodes a few myths along the way.

Invent a new title for this book:

Why Being the Underdog Does Not Always Suck

Read this if you liked:

Any ‘minority report’ journalism: Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics, Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich, You are Not So Smart by David McRaney.

Meet the book’s lead:

As the title suggests Gladwell's book contains two leads:

Goliath - the misplaced assumption that power and money make for success

David - the misplaced assumption that the little feller cannot win

Said leads would be portrayed in a movie by:

Goliath - a cigar-chewing Arnold Schwarzenegger (or possibly, if you want to represent orgiastic excess, a cigar-chewing Paris Hilton)

David - any actor who excels at unlikely heroes or love interests. Jay 'She's Out of Your League' Baruchel would be perfect.

Setting: would you want to live there?

Gladwell describes a world where being big, powerful and rich doesn’t guarantee you’ll win. I’m in!

What was your favorite sentence?

Slightly off-topic but this quote encapsulates Gladwell's easy, engaging style:

Paul Cézanne, tall and gruff, would come and sit moodily in the corner, his trousers held up with string.

 

The Verdict:

Read the rest of Cath Murphy's review here.