David and Goliath- Middle Reading

      So far I am about half way done the book and it is okay. After reading Malcolm Gladwell's other books, I do not think that this one is as good. It is still very interesting but the conclusions that he comes to are not supported enough. What he is arguing is that underdogs are not really underdogs, it is just the way that society perceives it to be. For example, with the story of David and Goliath, he says that David is not an underdog, but appears to be one because one of the main things we do when deciding who is stronger is size. After he talks about the story, one of the points he makes is that, the "slingshot" that David used, was very common for the time period the story takes place and were often used in the army. He then talks about the power of a slingshot and mentions it has the same power as a .22 caliber pistol. After reading this, it is not really surprising that after Goliath got he, he fell over. This point, as well as the other points he makes are very good and apply to his thesis. When I got deeper into the book however, the points he makes get a little shaky. In one of the scenarios he talks about the British's reaction to German bombings during WW2.

    On page 96, he uses this section from the diary of a British women during these explosions, "I lay there feeling indescribably happy and triumphant. "I've been bombed!" I kept saying to myself, over and over again--trying the phrase on, like a new dress, to see how it fitted. "I've been bombed!...I've been bombed--me!"

   It seems a terrible thing to say, when many people were killed and injured last night: but never in my whole life have I ever experienced such  pure and flawless happiness.

   To me this quote seems unbelievable, he must have searched through hundreds of quotes to find this one, and the person writing must have had some sort of mental issue. This does not seem to be a very trustworthy quote to use. He uses another similar quote on the next page describing a citizen refusing to move out of the bomb zone because he wanted to stay and watch the explosions. 

     Normally Gladwell is a very reliable author, but after using quotes like these, it puts this book behind the other books I have read, such as Outliers and Blink.