David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell is an entertaining author. David and Goliath reads similar to his other books. He takes a sociological premise that seems somewhat counter-intuitive, and then uses a number of well-told anecdotes to help "prove" his point. In this book, the premise is that disadvantages can force people to work in other ways to "overcome the odds". The basketball full-court press was shown as an example of how weaker teams can beat better teams. (Though you have to wonder - if this works so well, why don't more teams do it.) Other stories present similar "Against the ods" victories. These are nice, well-told feel-good anecdotes that come together in an entertaining story. There is not a lot of strong "science" here, but plenty of well done entertainment.