Talks & Entertainment

In David and Goliath, Gladwell—the #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw—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.

Three thousand years ago, 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?

David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, 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 conversation with David Plotz, Editor of Slate. Book signing to follow.