Reading Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath
Me: I took an online health quiz and it says my real age is 20.
Her: 20? That seems too young.
Me: I work out 1.5 hours a day!
Her: Ok, but were there any questions about how many hot dogs or pieces of fried chicken you eat?
My wife and I went out for a walk this past weekend. Stopped by the local bookstore and picked up Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath.
I’m only about seven chapters in, but like all his other books, the writing is snappy and subject matter is interesting. The basic premise is that the things that we think of as disadvantages may work out to be advantages and vice versa. But only time can show which is which.
This is a recurring theme in this blog as I think it’s all about growing into one’s self.
There’s this place in the Indian Ocean called the Desolation Islands that has an odd feature about the insects there: they don’t have wings and the particular species of insects are supposed to.
What the scientists have figured out is that the winds there are so strong that the ones that had wings were blown off centuries ago, leaving only the ones without wings.
Dunno if Gladwell mentions this in his book but it fits into his basic theme.
In my case, my childhood disadvantages – my astounding nerdy-ness and weight as a child – have helped me greatly as an adult.
With this in mind, I’m sure my constant eating of fried chicken will be an advantage in some capacity someday, if it hasn’t already.
Wrestling buddy: Oooooph, jeez how much do you weigh?!
Me: 170. Mostly as a one inch layer of fat distributed evenly throughout my body.
Him: I can’t breathe.
I’m actually writing another book myself called, A Great First Date that I’m hoping to be done with in a month of so.
I’ll tell you more about it as I wrap it up.
Location: my desk, icing my leg
Mood: injured
Music: The better things I have to say will fall to you
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2 replies on “A walk with David and Goliath”
fried chicken is my weakness. i love fried chicken and go on benders until grease is oozing from my pores and i can’t stand the thought of eating another drumstick.
where do you like to go, besides your trips to harlem for kfc (i yelped that location and the reviews were scary).
in chicago, we have a chain called harold’s, which is amazing. now there’s all these fancy fried chicken places popping up, but they overcomplicate the chicken with all these spices and whatnot.
mmmm, chicken.
I’m not going to try and lie to you: I eat a lot of KFC. But I’m not beneath a Popeye’s or even the local takeout fare from my hoity-toity supermarket. I’m like you, something about fried chicken is so good – it’s no replacement for my beloved chili, but it comes pretty close though.