Other Malcolm
Gladwell best-sellers. I've already read Nothing,
which, in my opinion, was very insightful, although it was a bit vague,
about...nothing ; - ) [1]
Whew! The last
page has been turned and the book has been placed back on the bookshelf (I'm
giving myself a pat on the back as we speak). Time to move on to a classic book, which I am definitely looking forward to.
You may wonder (even if you don't, you will): "Will I feel more insightful after reading this book? Would you recommend Gladwell to other readers?" My answer to you is "ehhhhh...it depends". For beginners, sure, go ahead and tackle his books. But for more experienced readers? It really depends on the reader. I was bored most of the time, even though there was some insight, and I will most definitely not touch another one of his books for ten years. Yup, I'm a picky reader and I dislike repetitiveness (considering his writing style has been very consistent with his past books). Also, please refer to my second post on David and Goliath, and read the interesting review on the book written by Joe Nocera.
SPOILER ALERT: Between my second and third post for this book, I read Part 3: The Limits of Power. It basically explains that when one individual, group, nation, etc. uses power, oppression, and force to control those who they want to control, the outcomes are usually even worse (riots, rebellions, skirmishes, etc.). Gladwell uses the conflict between Britain and Northern Ireland, the good-doings of policewoman for teenagers who have fathers or mothers in jail, the story of a mother whose young daughter is kidnapped, raped, and killed, and the tale of a man who saves many Jews during the Anti-Semitic period in Europe (nope, not Schindler, although I do recommend watching Schlinder's List, the movie). I especially enjoyed the story of the policewoman, Jaffe, because she was helping families who were poor because their bread winners were in jail. Gladwell mentioned that teenagers who had fathers or mothers in jail were more likely to become juvenile delinquents (this goes along with the Britain vs. Northern Ireland conflict, because the teenagers felt like acting out against those, policemen, who had jailed their parent(s)/"oppressed" them). Jaffe, by sending those families turkeys on Thanksgiving and toys on Christmas, was supporting those teens and sending them a message that not all policemen were "bad".
David and Goliath is definitely literary non-fiction. The "literary" part is as shown below:
"Walker and Davis pulled up alongside the Isuzu, using the weight of the motorcycle to pin Reynolds against her car. Calderon jumped out of the passenger’s seat, running around the back of the car. Walker blocked his way. Davis grabbed at Reynolds’s purse. He pulled out a .357 magnum handgun and placed it against her right ear. She resisted. He fired. Davis and Walker jumped back on the motorcycle and sped through a red light. People came running out of the Daily Planet. Someone tried to stanch the bleeding. Calderon drove back to Reynolds’s parents’ house but couldn’t wake them. He called and got their answering machine. Finally, at two-thirty in the morning, he got through. Mike Reynolds heard his wife cry out, “In the head! She’s been shot in the head!” Kimber died a day later." (Gladwell 151)
When I read this paragraph, it was as if I was reading a crime novel. In the beginning of chapters, Gladwell likes to begin with an anecdote/narrative that sets the scene for the rest of the chapter. And then there's the nonfiction part, the "evidence" supporting the argument (by the way, you don't have to read all of it...I just included it so that the paragraph was complete and not just a fragment of info/evidence):
"Let us go back to the theory of the inverted-U curve that we discussed in the chapter on class size. Inverted-U curves are all about limits. They illustrate the fact that “more” is not always better; there comes a point, in fact, when the extra resources that the powerful think of as their greatest advantage only serve to make things worse. The inverted-U shape clearly describes the effects of class size, and it clearly applies as well to the connection between parenting and wealth. But a few years ago, a number of scholars began to make a more ambitious argument, an argument that would end up pulling Mike Reynolds and his claims for Three Strikes into the center of two decades of controversy. What if the relationship between punishment and crime was also an inverted U? In other words, what if—past a certain point—cracking down on crime stopped having any effect on criminals and maybe even started to make crime worse?" (Gladwell 154)
Overall, my opinion of David and Goliath is wishy-washy. I enjoyed some narratives while others were quite a drag (like the last one). I hope that Gladwell's next book will be different, new, and even more brilliant than his past best-sellers. But as I said, I will probably not pick up another one of his books for ten years...(repetitive).
[1]To find more interesting Gladwell books, search "fake Malcolm Gladwell books" in Google images. I dunno why you need to add the word "fake" to your search bar...'cuz these books are for real...seriously.
Picture Source ("Wink"): http://www.marfdrat.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/wink-malcolm-gladwell-parody-title.jpg
Picture Source ("Nothing"): http://thenorthkoreablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nothing-malcom-gladwell.jpg
Picture Source ("Vague"): http://media.salon.com/2011/02/24_2.jpg
You may wonder (even if you don't, you will): "Will I feel more insightful after reading this book? Would you recommend Gladwell to other readers?" My answer to you is "ehhhhh...it depends". For beginners, sure, go ahead and tackle his books. But for more experienced readers? It really depends on the reader. I was bored most of the time, even though there was some insight, and I will most definitely not touch another one of his books for ten years. Yup, I'm a picky reader and I dislike repetitiveness (considering his writing style has been very consistent with his past books). Also, please refer to my second post on David and Goliath, and read the interesting review on the book written by Joe Nocera.
SPOILER ALERT: Between my second and third post for this book, I read Part 3: The Limits of Power. It basically explains that when one individual, group, nation, etc. uses power, oppression, and force to control those who they want to control, the outcomes are usually even worse (riots, rebellions, skirmishes, etc.). Gladwell uses the conflict between Britain and Northern Ireland, the good-doings of policewoman for teenagers who have fathers or mothers in jail, the story of a mother whose young daughter is kidnapped, raped, and killed, and the tale of a man who saves many Jews during the Anti-Semitic period in Europe (nope, not Schindler, although I do recommend watching Schlinder's List, the movie). I especially enjoyed the story of the policewoman, Jaffe, because she was helping families who were poor because their bread winners were in jail. Gladwell mentioned that teenagers who had fathers or mothers in jail were more likely to become juvenile delinquents (this goes along with the Britain vs. Northern Ireland conflict, because the teenagers felt like acting out against those, policemen, who had jailed their parent(s)/"oppressed" them). Jaffe, by sending those families turkeys on Thanksgiving and toys on Christmas, was supporting those teens and sending them a message that not all policemen were "bad".
David and Goliath is definitely literary non-fiction. The "literary" part is as shown below:
"Walker and Davis pulled up alongside the Isuzu, using the weight of the motorcycle to pin Reynolds against her car. Calderon jumped out of the passenger’s seat, running around the back of the car. Walker blocked his way. Davis grabbed at Reynolds’s purse. He pulled out a .357 magnum handgun and placed it against her right ear. She resisted. He fired. Davis and Walker jumped back on the motorcycle and sped through a red light. People came running out of the Daily Planet. Someone tried to stanch the bleeding. Calderon drove back to Reynolds’s parents’ house but couldn’t wake them. He called and got their answering machine. Finally, at two-thirty in the morning, he got through. Mike Reynolds heard his wife cry out, “In the head! She’s been shot in the head!” Kimber died a day later." (Gladwell 151)
When I read this paragraph, it was as if I was reading a crime novel. In the beginning of chapters, Gladwell likes to begin with an anecdote/narrative that sets the scene for the rest of the chapter. And then there's the nonfiction part, the "evidence" supporting the argument (by the way, you don't have to read all of it...I just included it so that the paragraph was complete and not just a fragment of info/evidence):
"Let us go back to the theory of the inverted-U curve that we discussed in the chapter on class size. Inverted-U curves are all about limits. They illustrate the fact that “more” is not always better; there comes a point, in fact, when the extra resources that the powerful think of as their greatest advantage only serve to make things worse. The inverted-U shape clearly describes the effects of class size, and it clearly applies as well to the connection between parenting and wealth. But a few years ago, a number of scholars began to make a more ambitious argument, an argument that would end up pulling Mike Reynolds and his claims for Three Strikes into the center of two decades of controversy. What if the relationship between punishment and crime was also an inverted U? In other words, what if—past a certain point—cracking down on crime stopped having any effect on criminals and maybe even started to make crime worse?" (Gladwell 154)
Overall, my opinion of David and Goliath is wishy-washy. I enjoyed some narratives while others were quite a drag (like the last one). I hope that Gladwell's next book will be different, new, and even more brilliant than his past best-sellers. But as I said, I will probably not pick up another one of his books for ten years...(repetitive).
[1]To find more interesting Gladwell books, search "fake Malcolm Gladwell books" in Google images. I dunno why you need to add the word "fake" to your search bar...'cuz these books are for real...seriously.
Picture Source ("Nothing"): http://thenorthkoreablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nothing-malcom-gladwell.jpg
Picture Source ("Vague"): http://media.salon.com/2011/02/24_2.jpg
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