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

the kinds of fears that can make life
during wartime unendurable.
Dyslexia is a classic example of this
same phenomenon. Many people with
dyslexia don’t manage to compensate for
their disability. There are a remarkable
number of dyslexics in prison, for
example: these are people who have
been overwhelmed by their failure at
mastering the most basic of academic
tasks. Yet this same neurological
disorder in people like Gary Cohn and
David Boies can also have the opposite
effect. Dyslexia blew a hole in Cohn’s
life—leaving a trail of misery and
anxiety. But he was very bright, and he
had a supportive family and more than a