Try free for 2 months

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.
David and Goliath cover art

David and Goliath

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Try for $0.00

AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Editorial reviews

Best-selling author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell has written and narrated a compelling examination of power in his new-release audiobook David and Goliath. Using the classic biblical tale as an example, Gladwell highlights the reasons why it is possible for the small, feeble and unlikely people in the world to take on and quite often win against far bigger, stronger opponents. See the age-old struggle of power broken down to its core and understand far more as to why and how people succeed against all the odds. Available now from Audible.

Publisher's Summary

David and Goliath is the dazzling and provocative new book from Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw.

Why do underdogs succeed so much more than we expect? How do the weak outsmart the strong? In David and Goliath Malcolm Gladwell takes us on a scintillating and surprising journey through the hidden dynamics that shape the balance of power between the small and the mighty. From the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Vietnam, through the tactics of civil rights leaders and the problem of privilege, Gladwell demonstrates how we misunderstand the true meaning of advantage and disadvantage.

When does a traumatic childhood work in someone's favour? How can a disability leave someone better off? And do you really want your child to go to the best school he or she can get into? David and Goliath draws on the stories of remarkable underdogs, history, science, psychology and on Malcolm Gladwell's unparalleled ability to make the connections others miss. It's a brilliant, illuminating book that overturns conventional thinking about power and advantage.

Author, journalist, cultural commentator, and intellectual adventurer, Malcolm Gladwell was born in 1963 in England to a Jamaican mother and an English mathematician father. He grew up in Canada and graduated with a degree in history from the University of Toronto in 1984. From 1987 to 1996, he was a reporter for The Washington Post, first as a science writer and then as New York City bureau chief. Since 1996, he has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine.

His curiosity and breadth of interests are shown in New Yorker articles ranging over a wide array of subjects including early childhood development and the flu, not to mention hair dye, shopping and what it takes to be cool. His first book, The Tipping Point, captured the world's attention with its theory that a curiously small change can have unforeseen effects, and the phrase has become part of our language, used by writers, politicians and business people everywhere to describe cultural trends and strange phenomena. His other international best-selling books are Blink, which explores how a snap judgment can be far more effective than a cautious decision, and What the Dog Saw, a collection of his most provocative and entertaining New Yorker pieces.

©2013 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2013 Audible Ltd

Critic Reviews

"A global phenomenon... there is, it seems, no subject over which he cannot scatter some magic dust." ( Observer)

What listeners say about David and Goliath

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    520
  • 4 Stars
    157
  • 3 Stars
    48
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    487
  • 4 Stars
    95
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    426
  • 4 Stars
    134
  • 3 Stars
    43
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Typical Gladwell gold

As with all of Gladwell's books, he manages to take eye-opening, counter-intuitive scientific data, and weave it into a narrative that's so compelling you become totally absorbed in it.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other author who is such a masterful story-teller that their non-fiction books feel like novels that you can get lost in. Every book he writes contains ground breaking insights and wisdom that can totally change the way you see the world, but his writing is so superb that sometimes you don't even realise you're learning.

His narration is also among the very best I've found, and after 2 years using audible I've heard many. I usually prefer books narrated by the author, because nobody understands the tone and inflection the writing is intended to convey better than they do. Having said that, not all authors are great speakers, and some can be... Lacklustre. Malcolm Gladwell is the polar opposite, he's an engaging speaker who captures your attention, and keeps it. I have ADHD and often find myself tuning out and having to skip back repeatedly, but Gladwell's narration is so engaging I can easily pay attention for hours at a time.

David and Goliath is also one of his better books, in my opinion. It may just be that the subject matter is more interesting to me than some others, but I would say "Blink" is the only Gladwell book that's made a bigger difference to how I think. Highly recommend!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Ian
  • 25-07-2014

A rambling diatribe

Would you try another book written by Malcolm Gladwell or narrated by Malcolm Gladwell?

Malcolm Gladwell has a great reputation, but this book has bored me to tears. It is a lumbering series of unrelated references where the context is lost in the various areas of interest that fascinated the author. It is really off putting.

What was most disappointing about Malcolm Gladwell’s story?

It served no purpose, it rambled and I just wasted 5 hours of my life.

What three words best describe Malcolm Gladwell’s performance?

Boring. Indulgent. Drab.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Malcolm Gladwell knows how to weave amazing facts into stories and this is no exception!

This book puts strengths and weaknesses into perspective, it shows how you can turn an advantage into a disadvantage and a disadvantage into an advantage, a fantastic read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Started strong but lost its way

I loved the first half of the book. Well worth getting just for that. I felt I got a bit lost in the later parts as I struggled to connect it back to the over all thesis of the book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant! Passionate, insightful, profound!

The writer's curiosity to solve the puzzles of the human condition is inspirational and a rip roaring read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gladwell does it again!

interesting, entertaining and challenging stories and ideas. I encourage you to listen to this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply brilliant!!

It's oft said that things of value are best expounded by a good story. Malcolm Gladwell is a gifted storyteller who does just that. His style of idea-story-lesson works well for David and Goliath. Is he vague or ambiguous in parts? Yes, but the only person who knows their history/story are they whom live it and feel it. Highly recommend!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding book

Beautifully written, unpacking human behaviour shaped in adversity through interesting stories. Highly recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another great Malcolm Gladwell book

Once again I found I was captivated listening to this book. Another great story from Malcom Gladwell that I can highly reccomend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Biblical wisdom

Love the connectedness to Biblical incites and all the background to explain the ‘why’ for actions hard to fathom.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.