Malcolm Gladwell's David And Goliath: Underdogs

Discussions of dyslexia require a definition of the term, and this is where we can come into some confusion if we are not careful. In fact, the “problem” itself exists in the defining of the word, and thus the labeling of those to whom the definition applies. However, with some knowledge of the etiology of “dyslexia” we can begin to ply our beliefs off the population of “dyslexics” and start to gain some understanding of their experiences with language learning. This is, after all, the intention of this research. Guardiola (2001) also assisted in redirecting the academic focus in this direction, towards the etiology of the term and how its history has shaped current social work, education, neurobiology, and psychology perspectives.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell is a critical thinking, self-help book that was published in 2013. Malcolm Gladwell is an English born Canadian journalist, author, and motivational speaker. He was born on September 3, 1963 in Fareham, Hampshire, England. His mother is Joyce Gladwell, a Jamaican born psychotherapist and his father is Graham Gladwell, who was a mathematics professor from Kent, England. Gladwell states that his mother is his role model as a writer, due to her willingness to be open minded and curious towards alternative thoughts and solutions to difficult problems. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College in 1984.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines dyslexia as a disorder in the brain that makes it difficult for an individual to write, read, and spell. People who have been diagnosed with the learning disability are often thought to be “lazy, dumb, careless, ‘not trying hard enough,’ or [have] behavior problems” according to Ronald D. Davis, founder of the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center.

A person with dyslexia can have many reading problems. Letters are often reversed for them so a q might look like a p and vice versa. Words can be read backwards and letters can be all jumbled up, they would see the word pot, but would read it as top. Words such as off may look like of or on. Dyslexics that might read aloud would probably stumble over words or say them completely wrong; if someone were reading aloud to them, it would be hard to follow. Words on one page may be read correctly the first time, but later on they would be unable to recognize that same word. Reading for dyslexics requires that sentences be read more than once for complete understanding of the meaning, whereas if

Malcolm Gladwell’s book “David and Goliath” describe the stories of underdogs. In the chapter 2, he explains the story about Vivek Ranadivé who decided to coach his daughter’s no experienced basketball team. Malcolm told a fantastic story about how a father who has no basketball experience helped her daughter’s basketball won the game. The points somehow convinced me because the father really changed their team’s weakness to the advantage. This shows that sometimes have resources or preponderances are not good things. Try everything and don't give up easily, because the results are unpredictable. Notwithstanding, the story is really convincing but there are some points in the book let me feel skeptical to the book. The girls won the game use

     Dyslexia is a disorder in which someone has difficulty reading, which is not caused from a

In the essay “On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read,” David Raymond offers information on him having the experience of dyslexia.  He explains how dyslexia plays a major role in his learning. In a positive and negative way.  Dyslexia doesn’t only stop him with other educational activities but effects his self-confidence. While dyslexia brought Raymond many struggles as a child, it also played a huge role in Raymond’s confidence such as him saying that he wanted to die since he was different to everyone else. David visibly tells us how his dyslexia held him back from every day activities as a child. While reading, he says, “My family began to suspect I was having problems almost from the first day I started school.” This quote makes

Phonological Dyslexia is the type of dyslexia that hinders one's ability to identify basic sounds and causes them to lose phonemic awareness, or the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes in words (Desroches et. al, 2005). Research has also revealed a range of impairments and problems in other domains. This includes impairments in visual processing, auditory processing, working memory, oral language and motor functioning (Lum et. al, 2013).

Gladwell’s article was very interesting to read and it was a very motivational article, its general message being that the underdogs can win if they play their own game. His thesis is that effort trumps power and he shows his evidence through multiple stories. The first story he uses is about a basketball team who didn’t know how to play basketball and learn how to win consistently by playing a full court press. The second is an example of a battle in a war, where Lawrence and his army attack at the tracks, a weak spot, instead of attacking the strong point of the city. The third is the Bible story of David and Goliath, when David faced the massive Goliath with only a slingshot and five stones and was victorious. The final story that he uses

In his breakthrough novel David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell explores through scientific research and real life stories why an underdog’s victory should be expected.“Caroline Sacks” is the most interesting chapter because it helps prevent high school upperclassmen from committing a mistake that would inhibit them from fulfilling their dreams. Sack’s Ivy League experience and the Impressionist’s scandalous withdrawal from the reputable Salon enlightens students to the controversial truth behind the disadvantages of elite institutions. Most juniors can relate to Sacks and the Impressionists through their desire to attend an Ivy League because “It [is] a place where reputations [are] made” (Gladwell 71). This stereotypical thought tempts many

Since dyslexia is a neurological condition along with difficulties with different aspects of reading dyslexia can have cognitive aspects as well, such as speech perception, recognizing and manipulating the basic sounds in a language, language memory, and learning the sounds of the letters (citation). All in all, up to 10% of the population is predicted to have some form of dyslexia therefore it is imperative that educators are able to identify these students and know strategies that can help them early on in their formal

In the book entitled “David and Goliath”, Malcolm Gladwell, the author, wrote a very inspiring story, but before be inspired by the author story I encountered many difficulties to understand the story. The main difficulty is to understand something that I do not have the knowledge like basketball game and wars. I am not a basketball player or fan. So, I do not really know how does the game works and what is the game rules. Thus, to understand the story written by the author become more difficult as the reader need to be more conscious and focus in reading to understand the flow of the story. Besides that, reader also must able to imagine the event written by the author to get a clear picture of the author story. This because reader need to

Whenever you think of dyslexia, you may think of people confusing their left from their right or mixing run with fun or the number six with nine, but dyslexia is more than that.

Dyslexia is a lifelong struggle with constant challenges with reading and speaking. About five to ten percent of the United States population deals with the learning disorder dyslexia (Van den Honert, n.d.). It is a neurological condition that is mainly caused by genetics but there are some rare cases in which it is acquired. Dyslexia interrupts the normal processes of reading and speaking (Van den Honert, n.d.). All of which are used in daily life and this makes life and school so much harder for dyslexics. They must learn to live with the condition for their entire life and there is not really a treatment for it. With the constant struggle and reminder of their

Gladwell likes to go for the shock factor and he really hits the nail on the head when saying what people normally think is considered an “underdog story” is not possible and there are other things to consider. Once again in this passage he gives the reader a sneak peek and doesn’t say exactly what he means when he says things such as “But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot” he tells us there are other factors but doesn’t state what they are yet. I personally enjoy it manly for the way I read, I reread things a lot in order for me to better understand it so the fact that