This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Solvable. I'm Ronald Young, Jr.

The rational response to being asked to fight in a war is to go crazy.

That, of course, is the voice of Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell.

And I invited Malcolm back to Solvable because I've recently been thinking a lot about

something I read that he published back

in 2013, his book, David and Goliath.

The subtitle is Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.

It's a book that takes a closer look at events in which one outcome is greatly favored

over another and discusses why sometimes those outcomes don't turn out as expected.

This episode is a little different from our typical solvable and that we don't exactly solve a

problem here. But in the spirit of the show, we're very optimistic in our discussion of a big idea.

And as you listen, you'll begin to get a sense of exactly why we chose now to have this

particular discussion.

Imagine you're living in Britain in the late 1930s.

Germany is preparing to attack your country.

It's the start of the Second World War.

The military is mobilizing.

Preparations are being made for mass casualties.

You're debating whether or not you should stay in the city or move to the countryside

until the danger has passed.

The British Military Command does a kind of projection of what they think is going to happen.

...