The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman

The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was interested in this book mainly because of the title. I thought it would be a sociological exploration of the concept of childhood and how it's changed. The first half of this short book was mostly that but then it was mostly about television dumbing down the world. In part, due to its short length, it wasn't enough of an exploration of anything. It was an okay read though.

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The Rules of Contagion by Adam Kucharski

The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread--And Why They Stop by Adam Kucharski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like a lot of people said, this both about viruses spreading and about information/misinformation/disinformation spreading. It's sort of the perfect book for our time in that both of those things are a danger right now. But the organization was really poor and there were only a few new things covered.

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 “We received a new dataset each day. Because it took time for new cases to be reported, there were fewer recent cases in each of these datasets: if someone fell ill on a Monday, they generally wouldn’t show up in the data until Wednesday or Thursday. The epidemic was still going, but these delays made it look like it was almost over.” 

 “R = Duration × Opportunities × Transmission probability × Susceptibility” 

“Epidemiology is, in fact, a mathematical subject,’ he wrote in 1911, ‘and fewer absurd mistakes would be made regarding it (for example, those regarding malaria) if more attention were given to the mathematical study of it.’” 

 “Tackling harmful content will have a direct effect – preventing a person from seeing it – as well as an indirect effect, preventing them [from] spreading it to others. This means well-designed measures may prove disproportionately effective. A small drop in the reproduction number can lead to a big reduction in the size of an outbreak.”

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

While Gladwell makes some interesting points and connections which deserve attention and action particularly in policing, I think he has too much sympathy for the devil in general. There is no mention for example of how police feel they deserve complete respect or to what extent they feel comfortable abusing their (basically unlimited power). Furthermore, there is no discussion about how racism, both conscious and subconscious, causes white people to expect complete respect from black people, even when they have no cause to expect or merit such perfect and high respect. And the deadly consequences of both such mindsets especially in combination. Trying to explain the Sandra Bland tragedy without more than an allusion to those issues is completely unbalanced.

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The Problem with Everything by Meghan Daum

The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She's a great writer, and though I definitely don't agree with everything she writes, I share many of the same frustrations. I am also a Generation X feminist, and I struggle with a lot of the changes that are taking place, both good and bad. When I was in my 20s, I was not yet familiar with serious feminist thought and writing, or for that matter, serious thought and writing about racism and economics which both inform my current understanding of feminism. I also hadn't experienced more of the snags women face as they grow older in our society so my experience was also only partially informative. But I also remember thinking what a dinosaur my fairly young mother could be at times, so I'm concerned about turning into a dinosaur as well.

This is the sort of book we should all be discussing at a book club. It presents a real challenge to both our ingrained and developing views.

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Why We Can't Sleep by Ada Calhoun

Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a much better read than say Lean In, because the author has actually read books about feminism. I especially enjoyed the focus on Generation X because we are forever ignored. Seriously both Generation X and the Millenials have had a much tougher economy to deal with than Boomers, and the world seems almost completely dominated by the Silent Generation and Boomers.

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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed learning about the research that Gladwell used in this book, and with Gladwell's particular story-telling. I was already familiar with some but not all of the research, and of course, I already believed that we are not all self-made but usually largely dependent on our environments. That said, there was something a cognitively dissonant about including the 10000-hour rule in a book about how the most successful are typically not all self-made.

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Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed by Meghan Daum

Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on The Decision Not To Have Kids by Meghan Daum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The idea that people who choose not have children are selfish has always been completely preposterous to me. I have two children I completely love and adore, but the reasons I chose to have them were (in my opinion) "selfish, shallow, and self-absorbed" even if the actual raising of them sometimes requires saint-like patience and sacrifice. That is, I desperately wanted my own kids, my own family, little me's to shower with affection. In contrast, I think people who adopt or even those who don't have children, are way less selfish and shallow. Especially since our overpopulated planet is basically on fire now. (Sorry fellow moms, it's not a judgment on you, it's a judgment on myself.) And furthermore, I desperately want my own children to give me grandchildren one day- even at the potential cost to some of their own happiness- how's that for selfish? Additionally, my own mother seemed - quite the opposite of me- a somewhat reluctant mother. So I was very receptive to this collection, and it went beyond the ideas that I already held, enriching my overall view of other people's decisions of whether to have kids or not.

I especially enjoyed "Maternal Instinct" by Laura Kipnis which is a really interesting feminist take on the decision not to have children; "Be Here Now," by Lionel Shriver which highlights some of the racist and cultural motivations in the perpetuating the idea of reproduction in particular countries; "The Most Important Thing" by Sigrid Nunez which explored the time when having children was often a misfortune; "Over and Out" by Geoff Dyer, and “The End” by Tim Kreider. I also noticed a thread of a number of writers who felt unsatisfied with their own childhoods.

Though I noticed that for such highly intellectual and often atheistic arguments, the women in these essays never doubted the importance of the "work they wanted to do." Geoff Dyer touched on this issue a little and Tom Kreisler addressed it more directly: in a nihilistic universe, what value does your work have? Hypothetically, if we are a bunch of bacteria on a rock hurtling through space, then the value of our work probably isn't in any discernible way more significant than any other particular experience including the experience of being a parent. On the other hand, if there's a God (and maybe even if there's not) and an understanding of deep sacrificial love is the greatest earthly value or experience then maybe they're missing the mark? The authors of the essays are all professional writers so they all have work to do which is imbued with spirit in a way that many other people's jobs are not. So maybe the sacred nature of their work particularly skews their view of this issue. But for example, what particular value is Randall L. Stephenson or Michel Combes providing to the world as the CEOs of ATT and Sprint respectively? None that I can think of. But I get it, if it's your heart's passion is to be a CEO, rather than to be a parent, and as a woman, you think that being a parent will get in the way of your CEO dreams, you should do you.

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

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amazing first chapter and some interesting ideas that were somewhat supported but overall not a tightly-argued or edited book. First chapter is worth rereading any time you need inspiration.

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The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The interesting part of this book for me is that computers and the internet have changed how we think and how we write. I'm in a strange age group in that I both owned a typewriter as a kid and wrote a few grade school reports by hand, but mostly wrote reports for school on computers, and was already teaching myself html in college. I thought the difference that writing by hand, on the typewriter, or on the computer makes on the style of the writing is particularly interesting since Jennifer Egan says that she drafted the first version of all her novels by hand.

The book seemed a bit disorganized for me though. And it felt insufficiently researched or fleshed out especially in the science section.

I think I have a particularly strange perspective because I only began to read in such a large quantity specifically because as someone with no job or car from 2016-2018, I could get free ebooks and audiobooks from my library. I think since then, my transformation as a reader has been akin to a second college education. I've read about 200 books a year since 2016, including this year, for a total of over 800 books in 4 years. Many of those books were some serious literary tomes- such as the Bible and Moby Dick. So it's easy for me to dismiss the overwrought idea that the internet has made me unable to read serious books and concentrate on them when it's precisely the internet that has increased my reading and understanding of the world.

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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really engaging account of a young woman obsessed with death who takes a job in the mortuary and cremation industry. Doughty also answers a lot of typical questions about the care of a body after death. I've lost loved ones and I was really curious about some of the things she explains. I strongly agree that mourners should have more time to sit with the body immediately after death. A tradition of sitting with the unaltered body afterwards would be highly beneficial to some of us.

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The Social Animal by David Brooks

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The beginning was really good. It was a compilation of the science of human thinking and culture with a hypothetical couple as a storytelling vehicle. But at the end, there were a lot of Brooks's own political views without enough research cited. Frequently Brooks made policy assumptions or cited correlations with no clear explanation of why he was assuming causation. Correlation is not causation! Say it ten times before bed every night!

5 stars for the beginning and end, 2 stars for the word vomit in the politics section.

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Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that really changed my perspective-- which is such a gift. I was certainly open to what he had to say, but there were many concepts in here that I hadn't considered in the way that Giridharadas analyzes it. Part of my preparation for this book includes having already read 56 "popular nonfiction" economics books and some additional behavioral economics books. I'm not sure if someone who doesn't otherwise read economics books would be open to the concepts in here.

The basic premise is that the richest 1% claim to be trying to help with social problems but what they should actually do is pay their employees living wages so that they don't need charity, stop polluting the environment so that the subsequent disaster areas don't need charity money, stop lobbying against things that help the 99% of citizens like regulations, stop creating tax shelters so that government can't function properly, stop impeding government in general. In other words, instead of being bad guys and covering up their sins with philanthropy, they should stop being bad guys. In addition, actual income equality creates a huge power inequality. Democracy cannot work when a small percent of the population wields such disproportionate power. Part of that is the money itself, part of that is the disaster of current day finance regulations. The central thesis is that the rich can't even fix problems with philanthropy because their solutions involve mostly self-interested band-aids that don't address the underlying causes: them.

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Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent history and analysis of racism in America. Definitely expanded the way I think about the discourse in this country. Some examination of sexism and intersectionality though it wasn't the central focus. I was persuaded that racism is not caused by ignorance (because who is that dumb at this point?) but as a tool to oppress both black and white populations.

I found almost every paragraph riveting, but here is a favorite:
The Mennonites did not intend to leave behind one site of oppression to build another in America. Mennonites therefore circulated an antislavery petition on April 18, 1688. “There is a saying, that we shall doe to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are,” they wrote. “In Europe there are many oppressed” for their religion, and “here those are oppressed” for their “black colour.” Both oppressions were wrong. Actually, as an oppressor, America “surpass[ed] Holland and Germany.” Africans had the “right to fight for their freedom.” The 1688 Germantown Petition Against Slavery was the inaugural antiracist tract among European settlers in colonial America. Beginning with this piece, the Golden Rule would forever inspire the cause of White antiracists. Antiracists of all races—whether out of altruism or intelligent self-interest—would always recognize that preserving racial hierarchy simultaneously preserves ethnic, gender, class, sexual, age, and religious hierarchies. Human hierarchies of any kind, they understood, would do little more than oppress all of humanity.

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The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm a supporter of Warren, but I thought there were a lot of important arguments and ideas in this book about the current state of our economy, and the direction it's taking. I have a hard time taking Yang seriously as a candidate because of his lack of government experience and his performance during the Democratic Debates, but this is probably the third-best book by a Democratic Candidate for the 2020 election. So far, I've read at least one book by each of the 10 candidates that qualified for the third debate (and some of the dropouts) except Beto. I guess that's next.

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How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved the sociology and history aspect of this book and I definitely recommend reading it. I did struggle a little with the memoir portion. Because of my preference and the other reviews, I think I should also read Kendi's other book, Stamped from the Beginning, so I have that on hold at the library now.

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Rule Makers, Rule Breakers by Michele Gelfand

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World by Michele Gelfand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this as part of the GW Alumni Book Club. Although I was familiar with a lot (but definitely not all) of the underlying information in this book, I thought that the particular lens of analysis of the book, “loose” or “tight” social norm and rules, was a really eye-opening way of examining a lot of conflicts- personal, national, and international. I highly recommend this one.

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The Sum of Small Things by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett

The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, this made me laugh. I know these people, some of them live in my house. Not sure what we're supposed to do about it though.

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The Theory of the Leisure Class

The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An important economic classic for bringing a new perspective to the cultural value of the consumption of items, but also of conspicuous leisure. Definitely interesting but very academic in tone.

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The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Diamond set out to compare pre-industrialized societies to modern Western society. He especially focuses on New Guinea for his comparisons. He compares legal systems, war, childcare, relationships to the elderly, perception of dangers, religion, number and uses of languages, and diet. I found the childcare part particularly interesting, but since it mostly focuses on babies and young children, the information is mostly superfluous to me now because my kids are older. I think the book is pretty entertaining, and sometimes thought-provoking, but not especially educational.

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The End of Power by Moisés Naím

The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be by Moisés Naím
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Considering this was written in 2013, it was practically prescient regarding the dissipation of power in politics. So many sentences read as if the writer knew about Trump's takeover of the Republican party or even Brexit. I wonder how far this trend will go.

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