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  • David and Goliath

  • Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
  • Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (766 ratings)

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David and Goliath

Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Winner, Non-Fiction, 2014

Malcolm Gladwell, the number-one best-selling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, offers his most provocative - and dazzling - book yet.

Three thousand years ago, on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won.

Or should he have?

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.

Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms - all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity.

In the tradition of Gladwell's previous best sellers, David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think about the world around us.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2013 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2013 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about David and Goliath

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  • Rob
  • 2018-11-07

Yet another great look at the way we look at life.

Malcolm's way of looking at the world has always been a fascination of mine. he always seems to be able to put to words the things that many of us may be thinking but cannot fully articulate.
The manner in which Malcolm uses case studies to drive home his points and constantly engage his readers is nothing short of a master stroke.

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Beautiful! Such an evolved and yet simple

This is wonderful book about overcoming great obstacles. Inspiring on every level. I loved it!!!!

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2 people found this helpful

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Opened my eyes to a new way of looking at thingd

Sometimes you are better off being the underdog and Malcolm Gladwell makes a great case on why that is so. Great examples and great arguments made in the book.

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1 person found this helpful

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Mind changing

The influence of this book has deeply impacted the way I was parenting my kids.

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Applicability to Israel-Hamas/Gaza conflict right now.

Such important principles to understand for Goliaths trying to do the right thing. The controlling state is very likely to be furiously putting all its resources, military, population, skill, and good will exactly in the wrong areas to achieve peace with small terroristic regimes.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating, enlightening

Gladwell hit it out of the park. A captivating concept (are our typical assumptions about what constitutes a strength and what constitutes a weakness actually accurate? Let’s take a look…). Eloquent, well researched, and delivered with Gladwell’s iconic hypnotic passionate style. Just as good as Talking to Strangers.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Cat
  • 2023-03-17

Disorganized. A book of many unrelated stories.

A book of Disappointment. No coherence between stories and sounds like the author just threw 10 different stories/scenarios in 1 book. After spending +++ hrs of listening, other than David and Goliath, the rest is like 9 different history stories.

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Fantastic book, great to put preconceptions to the text

Thank you Mr Gladwell for your hours of research to lead us to the truth; and thank you for being and maintaining your Canadian “ness”. Your fellow Canadian who is always striving to be better.

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  • Fj
  • 2022-12-29

Wonderful

Malcom Gladwell never disappoints with his unique Sherlock Holmes take on common everyday stories and his soothing voice often brings a real humanness to the situation in question…

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good read

I really enjoyed the stories and appreciated the lessons explored in the book. lots to take away.

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