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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gladwell get wrong about Affirmative Action?

2. Which of the impressionists does Gladwell describe as the “easygoing urchin” (64)?

3. What will be the consequence for the loser’s people, in the single combat of David and Goliath?

4. What does Gladwell say dyslexia is?

5. What does Gladwell say was T. E. Lawrence’s primary target, which he made multiple strikes against?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the factors that this conventional wisdom overlooks, in Gladwell’s account?

2. What is Harvard’s theory of the “happy bottom quarter” (90)?

3. What is Vivek Ranadivé’s qualification to coach basketball?

4. What kind of lesson does Gladwell derive from the story of Jules Holtzapffel?

5. What was the strategy Ranadivé used so effectively?

6. What is “relative deprivation” (77)?

7. How does Gladwell say dyslexia prepared Brian Grazer to be a movie producer?

8. Gladwell seems to want it both ways, valuing poverty and celebrating wealth. Does Gladwell acknowledge or try to resolve this contradiction?

9. Why does Gladwell say that Caroline Sacks should have gone to University of Maryland instead of Brown University?

10. What is the chart Gladwell uses, to describe the phenomenon of “diminishing marginal returns” (49)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an evaluative review of David and Goliath. What is this book’s place in our culture? Who will find this book most useful? What are its uses? What are its limitations?

Essay Topic 2

What topics would you like to research further, after reading David and Goliath? Describe why additional research or reading would be beneficial to an understanding of this book. Propose a list of articles or books you would read in order to get a better handle on David and Goliath.

Essay Topic 3

Malcolm Gladwell uses one particular mechanism to great effect in David and Goliath: He says This phenomenon is exactly the same as That phenomenon, then pulls out the law or reason or pattern that unites them. Sometimes this is highly effective, but sometimes it creates some unusual comparisons or elisions. Where in David and Goliath is this similarity effect most illuminative, and where is it most troublesome to whatever point it is that Gladwell is trying to make at the time?

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