Are you feeling dejected, discouraged and listless? Tonight's cure for your existential malaise: Author Malcolm Gladwell talks to writer Tim Long about Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. This meeting of the minds finds Gladwell — author of such meditations on the modern-day as The Tipping Point (about the wisdom of the crowd) and Blink (about the brilliance of the unconscious) — demonstrating how the weird and marginalized triumph over pushy loudmouths. From the guerrilla tactics of the IRA and the Viet Cong to phoenixes rising from the ruins of various annihilated childhoods, he shows how struggling against the conventional and the unkind makes heroes out of those who'd otherwise just dry up and blow away. Long worked on The Simpsons and was a head writer for Letterman, so you know he probably got bullied a lot; now he can discuss his ability to triumph over such intimidation with the man who wrote the book on it. Wilshire Boulevard Temple, 3663 Wilshire Blvd., Koreatown; Mon., Oct. 7, 8 p.m. (reception from 6:30-7:30 p.m.); $20-$105. (213) 388-2401, livetalksla.org.

Mon., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., 2013

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.