by Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY. 296 pages.
Not everyone enjoys Malcolm Gladwell as I do. His critics don’t appreciate his ability to turn sociological facts and psychological experiences into compelling stories. One critic described him as “creating human fairy tales” that “cherry pick” data to make a point. Gladwell describes himself as a storyteller. He is an exceptionally skilled one. He gathers data from a variety of academic fields in order to make an argument in narrative form. Preachers do well to learn from his method — a form of deep listening to human experience. Recently, he spoke with gratitude for the Mennonite community of his family in Canada and from which he strayed until recently embracing again his faith. (It is not often that you find a Mennonite writing regularly for The New Yorker.)
“David and Goliath” is a fascinating book of sociological and psychological data written in the same style of his other books. Here, Gladwell begins with a counter-intuitive reading of the biblical story of David and Goliath, demonstrating that what appears to be the advantage of the strong is not as it seems. He knows how to read closely the biblical text. Pastors take note: there is a great deal of insight here, specifically the kind that finds it way into sermons in conversation with real life. David is not the only underdog examined. Another chapter explores the intriguing ways that persons with disabilities have adapted their lives to accommodate their condition and in the process succeeded far beyond expectations. Acknowledging that not everyone overcomes disabilities and that many have shattered lives, Gladwell nevertheless makes a controversial claim. He says, “Conventional wisdom holds that a disadvantage is something that ought to be avoided–that it is a setback or a difficulty that leaves you worse off than you be otherwise. But that is not always the case. I want to explore the idea that there are desirable difficulties.”
He interviews several people who suffered dyslexia as children yet have become leaders in the highest levels of business, government and community service. He has an uncanny ability to find people with remarkable stories that prove the argument he is urging upon his readers. In this case, that people can overcome terrible circumstances and rise to greatness. Drawing upon research of survivors of the devastating German bombing campaign in England during WWII, he describes how those suffering “remote misses” are ones most likely to be fearless in taking risks. That insight leads him to a doctor who overcame a horrific childhood to pioneer life saving treatment at National Institutes of Health for children with leukemia. The risks were enormous. Gladwell asks, “The question of what any of us would wish on our children is the wrong question, isn’t it? The right question is whether we as a society need people who have emerged from some kind of trauma — and the answer is that we plainly do. That is not a pleasant fact to contemplate.” In the last section on the limits of power, he turns his attention to the Civil Rights movement, the Irish-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland and the French Huguenot Christian community that openly sheltered Jews in defiance of the Vichy government, and the power of forgiveness to transform lives.
ROY W. HOWARD is the pastor of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in North Bethesda, Maryland, and the book editor of the Outlook.
