Disadvantage. Many people dislike this word and see it as a negative in their lives. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of David and Goliath, challenges the common definition of the word “disadvantage” by using evidence about people who are dyslexic. For instance, Gladwell describes a dyslexic man, named David Boies who said, “His mother would read to him when he was young. He would memorize what she said because he couldn’t follow what was on the page.” (Gladwell, 107) What seemed at first as a tremendous disadvantage to David Boies’ education and life, gradually turned into an asset to his future. Boies became a well-known lawyer. He did remarkably well, because he listened and remembered every word , “…and no stray comment or revealing admission from testimony an hour or a day or a week before that he would not have heard…” (Gladwell, 110) Malcolm Gladwell’s chapter about dyslexia has changed the way I think of my own disadvantages. I now think of them as desirable disadvantages, “…conceived by Robert Bjork and Elizabeth Bjork, two psychologists at the university of California, Los Angeles, and it is a beautiful and haunting way of understanding how underdogs come to excel.” (Gladwell, 102) In my life I have struggled with standardized tests. I would get nervous before taking them and question my ability to do well on them. However, last year I took my first AP class and actually exceled at it. Similar to David Boies, I had to examine and then change my style of studying for a big test. I would take notes that worked for me to ultimately excel, even within my own disadvantages.