David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell **** (of 5)

Malcolm Gladwell's shtick is to take timeworn beliefs and turn them upside down and inside out. It helps that he is an excellent story teller and begins this book with its title story. Only in Gladwell's version it should have been obvious that David was going to kill Goliath. Gladwell describes Goliath's overwhelming size and impressive armor and the unwillingness of the Israelites to face the monster.  But after Gladwell's closer examination it turns out that slingers in those days regularly took down hand-to-hand specialists like Goliath.  Moreover, Gladwell convincingly suggests Goliath probably had an eyesight deficiency making it hard for him to even find David on the battlefield.

Thus begins a series of stories suggesting that adversity can lead to success and overwhelming odds are not necessarily the barrier they might appear to be.  Copying the technique of first leading one way -- everyone knows Goliath is supposed to slaughter the skimpy David -- he reverses course on half a dozen misbeliefs.  He suggests, for example, that people that can overcome severe dyslexia develop compensation skills, especially as listeners, that allow them to surpass the potential of high achieving readers.  Small class sizes, he proves, are not better than larger ones.  And perhaps most persuasively, he demonstrates that the use of additional force to quell unruly behavior when applied by authorities with clearly outsized abilities, and insufficient respect for dignity, leads to an increase, rather than a decrease in the very behaviors the authority is attempting to squash.  His two examples -- a teacher applying strict and then stricter rules to an out-of-control classroom, and British rule over Ireland -- are extremely persuasive.  In both cases, the harsher the punishment, the more the oppressed rebel. Consider Israel's heavy-handed rule over Palestine and the ineffectiveness of indiscriminate policing as contemporary examples.

Gladwell is so good at what he does that there is a temptation to forget that his logic can lead to some inconvenient conclusions.  No one wishes they had dyslexia.  Foregoing force in a situation between disagreeable partners, some of whom are armed and dangerous, is not necessarily a solution.  Nevertheless, you have to relish Gladwell's clear joy at tipping some sacred cows.