David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

molecule you’ve never seen before, and
they ask you to make another one you’ve
never seen before, and you have to get
from this thing to that thing. There are
people who just think that way and in
five minutes are done. They’re the curve
busters. Then there are people who
through an amazing amount of hard work
trained themselves to think that way. I
worked so hard and I never got it
down.” The teacher would ask a
question, and around her, hands would
go up, and Sacks would sit in silence
and listen to everyone else’s brilliant
answers. “It was just this feeling of
overwhelming inadequacy.”
One night she stayed up late,
preparing for a review session in