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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 (767 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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intriguing Read

Use of Anecdote recital and the collection of the same adds flair to prove the David's of the world

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A must read!!

A must read!! One of Malcolm’s best book! Of course I love all his books!

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Must read

loved it. different perspective on what I thought was an advantage or disadvantage in a crazy world. good storytelling.

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Love Malcolm Gladwell!

Listening is such a treat! Especially when the author is reading to me. I so enjoyed learning about underdogs and the like through the stories shared by Gladwell. I can’t wait to open the next one!

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Another Excellent Malcolm Read

As fascinating as all of his books are I found the information in this one to be more applicable than some of his others. It is far from self help, he isn't telling you how this can improve your life, you gotta figure out how to apply the information yourself, but it was excellent, I think of the concept of "desirable difficulty" and what that means in my life and has been great for giving context to me an my brother who are both dyslexic.

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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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  • 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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Another excellent Gladwell

I always enjoy Malcolm Gladwell’s books whether in print or audio. This is no different. Fully enjoyed this book and Gladwell’s narration of it.

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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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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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