Of course finding the optimal classroom size is more complicated than “smaller classes are always better.” Of course there’s an optimal class size. On the face of it, that’s a valid, intelligent observation. In one case, he was talking about how small class sizes aren’t always better, and that the graph of learning in terms of class size might be inverted-u shaped rather than just a straight line correlation. Yes, sometimes thing vary linearly, and other times they follow an inverted-u curve, but those certainly aren’t the only way things can vary, and his explanation and application of them is patronizing. But it peeves me to see him talk about the relationships between things in terms of straight lines and inverted-u curves as if they are some new and novel thing. In a way, it’s okay for Gladwell to write this way, because, after all, he isn’t a scientist–he’s a journalist–he doesn’t have to be an expert you shouldn’t expect really in-depth analysis from him. While he does document his research and talk about actual studies in the book, he places the vast majority of focus on anecdotes and stories. One thing Malcolm Gladwell books lack is scientific rigor. He gives this story in a talk here, and if you haven’t heard it or read the book, I recommend listening it serves as a fitting and engaging intro to the book.Ĭlick for a bigger, more legible picture. In short, David took a gun to a knife fight. According to Gladwell (and his sources), while everyone expected Goliath to smash David into the ground, David was really the one with the upper hand, because he wasn’t fighting Goliath hand to hand–he was using a sling, which could easily kill heavy infantry at long range.

In David and Goliath, he follows the same template to write about how the disadvantaged often have hidden advantages and options that can help them succeed in the end.ĭavid and Goliath starts out with the Biblical story of David and Goliath, except told from a modern-day intellectual point of view, taking into account the context of champion warfare and Goliath’s impairing gigantism. In Outliers, he mixed stories and social science to talk about, well, I’m not sure he actually had a point in Outliers, but he did talk about success. In Blink, he mixed stories and social science to talk about how sometimes instant reactions can be valuable. In The Tipping Point, he mixed stories and social science to talk about how small things can make a big difference. In writing his books, Malcolm Gladwell generally follows the same method.

David goliath book