David and Goliath: Determined Doctors and Desirable Difficulty (Chapter Five)

(This is part of a chapter by chapter review of David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants, a review of the first chapter can be found here)

This Chapter tells the story of people who succeed in spite of terrible origins.  Jay Friereich was the son of Hungarian immigrants who managed to start a restaurant which went out of business after the great depression.  Despite numerous hardships (such as his father committing suicide after the depression) Jay went on to not only become a doctor, but a doctor who discovered and practiced innovative techniques for treating childhood leukemia.  Interleaved between the detailed stories of Jay Friereich is a similar story of how the bombing of London gave the survivors strength and an idea of desirable difficulty (presumably Gladwell's original thought as no citation is given for it).  He suggests that obstacles can enable us to develop abilities we wouldn't develop otherwise.  The rest of the chapter describes theories that losing a parent at a young age can enable creativity and briefly tells the story of Civil Rights leader Fred Shuttleworth's experience dealing with 'near miss' attempts on his life and how that only made him more determined.  Lastly, Gladwell explores details of Jay Friereich's struggles (it's never explicitly stated it's strongly hinted at that Friereich has a lack of 'people skills') to have his leukemia treatment accepted.