Skip to main content

Malcolm Gladwell: David and Goliath

 This is a book I'm getting ready to teach in my AP course for next term to help with the argument section of the test.

David and Goliath explores the advantages of being the underdog, and what makes it possible for Davids to beat Goaliaths. Gladwell attempts to persuade readers that sometimes, being bigger and stronger is actually a disadvantage, and that when a person has nothing to lose, they're more likely to do anything to be successful. Disadvantages can also sometimes be strengths. Gladwell uses real stories from people he interviewed to persuade his readers that people like David are more likely to defeat people like Goliath.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Gladwell uses fantastic real-world examples and stories to prove his point. I think he did a great job setting up his book within the context of the Biblical story of David and Goliath, and I enjoyed the details that he chose to include to make his point.

The one complaint that I have was that the last chapter of the book ends very abruptly. People are so tempted to skip "afterword" sections that this would be a really confusing conclusion to the book. Instead, you absolutely MUST read the afterword to feel like Gladwell ties up all of his arguments effectively. Additionally, I felt that he does a great job in each section of revisiting the main idea he was trying to get across in that section, and tying it back into his argument of David and Goliath, but the last chapter does not do this. He abruptly ends André Trocmé's story which bothered me.

Overall, I rate this ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

 This is a book that I read for the first time around four years ago when I first started teaching. This novel is one that I have loved ever since then. The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak takes place in World War II in Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is not quite an orphan, but she is placed in foster care because her mother can't provide for her. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and they completely change Liesel's life. On her way to the Hubermann's, Liesel's younger brother dies on the train. In the graveyard where he was buried is where Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Hans teaches her to read it, and inspires her love of the written word. The Hubermann's will then hide a Jew in their basement for a time. What will become of that hidden Jew? What will become of Liesel? What will become of Himmel Street, her friends, and her family in the wake of a violent and terrible war? This book is probably one of my all-time favorite...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brene Brown: Daring Greatly

Brene Brown is one of my favorite TED speakers of all time. I have listened to her TED talks numerous times and used them in my classroom each year. I love her message: that we can't have success, innovation, change, and creativity without first having vulnerability. I love that she is seeking to demystify vulnerability and teach what shame is and how it destroys our ability to accept ourselves and others. I am not normally into the self-help kind of books, but of the books I've read this year, this is one of my favorites! Daring Greatly  by Brene Brown discusses the concepts of shame and vulnerability and how we need vulnerability, but not shame. She gives strategies for combating shame and becoming "shame resilient." She gives strategies to use as parents, teachers, friends, and spouses. For one thing, I love Dr. Brown's Texan accent (she narrates the audiobook herself! 💗). Her voice and personality are all throughout this book. She is not afraid to use persona...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art Spiegelman: The Complete Maus

 This is again another book I intend to use for AP. Something I love about this is the rhetoric is two-fold - you not only have to look at the dialogue but the drawings as well. Art Spiegelman relates the story of his parents' experience as Jews in Poland during World War II and all that they went through in the camps. This book goes through conversations Art had with his father in the present (he lived in New York before his passing) and their World War II story in the 1930s and 1940s. Vladek (Art's father) owned a textile mill in Poland. He was drafted and sent to the border to fight the Germans before the onset of the War. He was captured and sent to a POW camp before being released and sent home. Once the Germans took over Poland, Vladek lost his mill and he moved his family in with his in-laws. Things gradually got worse for them. They lost Anja's (his wife's) grandparents, then Anja's parents, and their young son was sent to live with extended family for his s...
Post a Comment
Read more