End Review: David and Goliath

            I have to say, despite my utter joy and approval of the first two thirds of Gladwell’s David and Goliath, I was actually slightly disappointed by the last section.  It was still good -- it just wasn’t as good.

            I found at times that it was a little hard to follow, and while the overarching point was loud and clear, it seemed like some of the small bits were a stretch.  Maybe I was missing something, because the overwhelming majority of the book was fantastic!  It just seemed like at times it was a little hard to follow.

            Probably the section that was the most challenging was the part about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.  I have difficulty keeping American politics and armed struggles straight some of the time, so it was occasionally hard to keep British and Irish vernacular and complicated ties clear.  Probably one of my favorite quotes from this book was not from Gladwell, but from a Belfast citizen whose quote was recorded by the Times, included in the historian Desmond Hamill’s literature on the subject of the Troubles, and finally reprinted in this book.  The person said that “Anyone who isn’t confused here doesn’t really understand what is going on” (222).  At times, that was how I felt in the last hundred or so pages of the book.  I knew that everything would eventually make sense, and part of Gladwell’s style is to use a bunch of seemingly obsolete references to paint a crystal-clear story.  I just felt like some of the writing was a bit redundant and ambiguous.

            On the whole though, this book was marvelous.  A sentence that sums up the last section pretty well (I talked more about the first two sections in my previous post) can be found in the notes at the back of the book.  Gladwell writes that, “People accept authority when they see that it treats everyone equally, when it is possible to speak up and be heard, and when there are rules in place that assure you that tomorrow you won’t be treated radically different from how you are treated today” (293).  These three points are all debatable, and all small confusing pieces aside, Gladwell does a great job supporting them in the last ninety pages or so of this text.  Essentially, the takeaway that I got was that people will be respectful only if they get respect, and constancy is powerful and accepted when the virtues it protects sit well with the people; otherwise, they will demand change.

            The story arc with this book was fantastically unconventional, and is worth taking a look at.  In each section, there were always stories of failure, but also stories of success.  The book can be divided into three parts (this is something Gladwell does himself) and each part is about the same, so for the sake of being concise I’ll only break down one part.  The general trend is that the arc goes up; we gain valuable knowledge, but there are bumps -- many -- along the way that seem to threaten to derail progress and the advancement of useful knowledge.  The anecdotes pull through though, and we are left with a jagged upward slope defined by radical new ideas that challenge conventional wisdom and stories that we can relate to and learn from.  Altogether, the three parts form an “arc” that is at times difficult to navigate.  But, if the reader is willing to persevere and accept a form of thinking that turns the world on its head and shakes situations out methodically, finishing the book can be extremely rewarding.  The pinnacle of this book is finally understanding “underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants.”

            To anyone who wishes to be challenged and forced to think differently about the world around us, I would definitely recommend this book.

            Thanks for following along as I blogged about David and Goliath!  Come back soon to hear about the next book I’ll be reading.