books
I'm trying to read more nonfiction nowadays. It teaches you things and, hopefully, makes you less stupid and ignorant. Here's a bunch of books I've read over maybe the past year and what I got out of them.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard - Chip Heath & Dan Heath (2010)
I read this as part of an optional PD course this past school year (which was awkward: although the course was open to any teacher in the district, for some reason I was the only one who signed up, along with three administrators).
You have a rational mind and an emotional mind, and if you want to effect meaningful change, you can employ this schema of the Rider, Elephant, and Path. The Rider is your rational mind that knows what you need to do and where you need to go; the Elephant is the emotional, instant-gratification mind that does whatever it wants; and the Path is the environment or matrix in which all your decisions and actions take place.
That's kind of the crux of the book, but there's a lot more to it than that. What you want me to do, copy and paste the entire book? Read it yourself.
Each strategy in the book is accompanied by the story of someone who brought about a significant change against heavy odds. You kind of feel like you're watching a breezy documentary when you read this book. A lot of this has to do with institutional change (hence the preponderance of administrators in our book study), but you can apply it to your personal life, too, I guess.
There's a lot of good stuff in this book, and it's worth a re-read.
I think the theme of this book is believe in yourself.
One word: worthwhile
Rating: 9
Sanctuaries: Self-Care Secrets For Stressed-Out Teachers - Dan Tricarico (2018)
Another PD book. Whereas Switch was an engrossing and practical book I'd recommend to anyone, teacher or otherwise, Sanctuaries was predictably stupid and only worth reading for the easy CTLE credit.
Teachers, probably more than any other professionals, are on the receiving end of lots of stupid "self-care" advice. And I get it: low pay, stressful work. I also concede that, although I work hard and do my job well, there are many teachers with more passion, more devotion, more responsibility, and more stress. That's just a fact. To be even more generous, I concede that my particular role, while fraught with special challenges, is less demanding overall than that of a classroom teacher.1 I, for one, am comfortable "acting my wage," by which I mean pausing during high-stress moments to remember that, one, I am a school librarian, not a trauma surgeon or a senator, and the world will keep turning no matter what I do; and two, I am not paid enough to neglect my own well-being. Not every teacher shares this philosophy.
But even so: is there really a functional adult out there who doesn't know how to take a breather when they need it?
According to this book, yes.
"A sanctuary, according to Merriam-Webster.com..." the author begins. Hoo boy. It's gonna be that type of book, is it? The teacher's life, he says, is full of harrowing obligations both within the classroom walls and without; obligations such as "picking up the stuff from the dry cleaners." (Why does this seem to be the exemplar of the "on the go" lifestyle? I have never used a dry cleaner in my life.)
To counter the trauma of dry cleaning, Sanctuaries bombards you with blithering suggestions like typing a literal permission slip to get yourself a mani-pedi, or just breathing. "During a meditation session," the author explains, "I inhale on the word 'peace' and exhale on the word 'tranquility'" (p. 53).
OMG, shut up, you insufferable weirdo. If your stress disappears or is even appreciably diminished by painting your nails or chanting, you do not have stress.
Seriously, the author spends the whole book limning out his ideal of the calm, centered teacher; a grotesque caricature best summed up as (pardon the demeaning label) Basic White Bitch. Work got you down? Read a romance novel in a nice, hot bubble bath while sipping a Cabernet Sauvignon (p. 92). Honest question: WHO DOES THIS? Bathing is a brief, utilitarian chore. I cannot imagine stewing naked in a tub, book precariously cradled above the waterline, swirling a Bordeaux glass like an asshole--and you're welcome for the mental image.
This type of indulgence is what the author calls a "pamper trigger," or something that soothes and comforts you. Other examples include "splurging on the gourmet hazelnut coffee" and enjoying "overly soft towels or a thick bathrobe with foofy slippers that you ease your tootsies into" (p. 130). You might do these things in your designated "bliss station," a place likely filled with candles, throw pillows, and bubble bath. I mean, this guy: you ever decide someone has a punchable face without ever seeing his face?
Big ticket R&R also has its place: "A Princess or Carnival cruise? Great. A trip to the Caribbean? Awesome. A romantic weekend in a bed and breakfast? Don't mind if I do" (p. 113). (I don't disagree, author, but do you have to be such a complete dork about it?) But, he advises, even small moments of tranquility have value. "Between each moment, there is a tiny space, and if you look closely enough, this space contains the entire universe" (p. 119). Oh, DO shut up.
I mean, if this actually helps you in some way, god bless you, but boy oh boy is this a dumb book.
I think the theme of this book is bubble bath and wine will solve all your problems, apparently.
One word: stupid
Rating: 2
Poverty, By America - Matthew Desmond (2023)
Why does the richest country on earth have so much poverty? Really, why? Hint: it's not because poor people are lazy, unmotivated, or stupid. This is not to say individuals have no personal agency or responsibility. But to have such widespread, institutionalized poverty is absolutely a policy choice. Which isn't a surprising conclusion if you're even dimly aware of American plutocracy, or are simply not an asshole.
God, I had this one coworker years ago, she had such a grudge with poor people. Always going on about how people on food stamps should be drug tested, and why must she support people who are "too lazy to work," etc. She EARNED everything. Which was especially rich coming from her: driving a sporty convertible, spending ten dollars a day on coffee (her own admission), living in a massive house. I always wanted to say: bish, you be makin' the same thirteen dollars an hour that I be. You obviously got a rich spouse. No shame in that; Kim makes more than I do, but I don't go around bragging that our combined prosperity comes down to nothing but our superior work ethic and deservingness.
A couple of my big takeaways from this book:
I think the theme of this book is poverty is complicated but extremely solvable.
One word: smart
Rating: 10
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster - Bill Gates (2021)
Speaking of big, complicated problems.
This book is a big, accessible overview of climate change and what we can do to mitigate it. The problem is not as immediately solvable as poverty--the solution will involve yet-to-be-invented technologies--but, again, it comes down to popular support and political will. Which is why the United States, at least, will probably continue doing nothing.
Sidebar: Wait, weren't you once a climate change denier? Ehh, yeah, thanks for bringing that up. 'Preciate it. Yeah, I was heavily indoctrinated as a child, and science denialism and revisionism was a big part of my religious upbringing. I didn't even begin to challenge any of that until my twenties.
Anyway, the book begins with a sober assessment of the situation and the difficulty of solving the problem, and it ends with some thoughts on what individuals and governments can do to meet the challenge. The meat of this book consists of five chapters on the biggest drivers of climate change and how we can address each of them: How We Plug In, How We Make Things, How We Grow Things, How We Get Around, and How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm.
A lot of this is just Gates explaining current technologies and practices and describing their current or future sustainable alternatives. Dry subject matter, but easy enough for a dolt like me to digest. Gates continually visits the concept of "green premiums," which he defines as the cost difference between cheap fossil fuels and their (usually) more expensive clean alternatives. The goal, of course, is to shrink that premium to zero if possible, or even make the green option cheaper.
If they could suddenly read, I would place this book on every Fox News viewer's TBR, not just for the science but also to stifle a few of their weird claims about Bill Gates (not that he particularly needs anyone sticking up for him). For the record: no, Bill Gates does not want us all to eat bugs. In fact, he specifically acknowledges that meat is delicious and human beings should continue to enjoy it. However, maybe we can find more sustainable ways to produce it? Maybe those of us who are willing can reduce our consumption? Maybe we can eat just a little more plants? (Seriously, some "plant-based meat" is kind of delicious.) Also, for all his talk about green premiums, not once does he propose raising the prices of fossil fuels to reflect their true cost in terms of environmental impact. That would frankly suck and hurt everyone. I believe that sort of thing would fall under the umbrella of "climate justice." Impoverished nations contribute the least to climate change and are harmed the most by it. Just suddenly proscribing the use of fossil fuels or making them prohibitively expensive would be neither realistic nor helpful.
I know I have swerved way out of my lane not only by reading a serious book but also by straining to discuss it seriously, and I apologize. This is aberrant behavior.
What does Bill Gates say that you, a mere person, do about climate change? The answer will not shock you: not a whole lot. No, recycling and having a vegetable garden will not make any real difference. The big systems that make up our current house of cards need to change. Mostly, it's the boring stuff that won't bear immediate fruit. Vote. Be a conscious consumer when you can, so that companies see there is actually a demand for sustainability. But, like...will even that make a difference? Personally, I kind of doubt it. You can't mention public transit or electric cars or windmills or solar farms without triggering half the country. New York State almost exploded when single-use plastic grocery bags were banned. A server putting a paper straw in your drink is a worse affront than spitting in it. So I don't expect a groundswell of even my lazy, casual level of support for climate change action. Meaningful action, at least on America's part, will come only when it is profitable. I was going to say "when enough people are dead," but consider COVID.
I think the theme of this book is let's get to work on this problem yesterday.
One word: informative
Rating: 7
The Wager - David Grann (2023)
This is the tale of an English vessel, Her Majesty's Ship Wager, and how some guys thought they would go capture a Spanish treasure galleon, quickly and gloriously, and return home as heroes.
Spoiler alert: it did not go as planned.
As it turned out, they never engaged the Spanish ship and instead got shipwrecked somewhere in South America, and that's where things went just a little bit cuckoo. These guys were NOT good at survival techniques, and everybody kind of went crazy. A couple of different factions took shape. It turned into Lord of the Flies real fast. One group got taken in by friendly "savages," who of course had no difficulty providing food and shelter and were by all accounts unreasonably patient and longsuffering toward their English guests. The Englishmen, for their part, were right wankers and woke up one day to find their benefactors had deserted them.
If I remember correctly, one of the other ships that originally set out alongside the Wager did succeed in capturing the Spanish galleon, hauling in the equivalent of $80 million. Which, next to the ships and lives already lost, still came out to a massive net loss for the Crown. (Even discounting the outright losses, there were still expenses to factor in. How was the modern equivalent of $80 million worth the trouble? That might buy the hundredth part of an NFL stadium. Am I missing something?)
Years later, when the survivors were back home in England, there was quite a hullabaloo, to put it lightly. Charges and countercharges. Courts martial. One side claimed mutiny, the other side claimed broken chain of command. That sort of thing. It was a real scandal, and whoever was found guilty was going to get a short drop at the end of a long rope. Finally, the Admiralty, aware of how badly this misadventure could reflect on the superiority of the Empire, basically said, "This never happened, right, guys?" and both sides agreed. Even though it happened hundreds of years ago, this story is a lesson on imperial hubris that resonates today.
Amn't I good at book reports? I am so smart.
Incidentally, one thing that stood out to me about this book was the way everyone involved was obsessed with journaling. It really inspired me to be more diligent about my own journal. These guys, they were starving to death thousands of miles from home, they were cannibalizing each other, and the foremost thought on everybody's mind was "I must record this in my journal immediately."
I think the theme of this book is "it's not going to be short and glorious," as a history prof of mine memorably predicted in late 2002.
One word: interesting
Rating: 8
Boys Adrift - Leonard Sax (2007)
This book explores the reasons why boys and young men are, by and large, unmotivated and underachieving, both in school and in the workforce. Girls and young women get better grades, participate more in sports, attend college and complete degrees at higher rates, comprise the greater portion of the workforce--the list goes on. Although girls and women obviously face their own unique challenges (in fact, Dr. Sax has a book titled Girls On the Edge examining that subject, which I'd like to read next), boys today have a lot stacked against them.
I bought this book because, first, I work with kids and want to understand them better; and because, second, I saw myself in it. It's fair to say I was unmotivated and underachieving from about halfway through high school until somewhere in my mid-twenties. My struggles may not have stemmed from all the same factors the author describes in this book, but one or two of them seemed personally relevant, and I think the overall message makes sense for boys at large.
Here are the five factors Dr. Sax outlines, with my own vastly oversimplified explanations:
I think the theme of this book is we need to do better for boys (and girls, but this book is about boys).
One word: enlightening
Rating: 9
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It - Robert Reich (2020)
OK, here's one more bonus book.
Robert Reich, onetime Secretary of Labor, seems like an intelligent human being. In addition to his distinguished career as a lawyer, political advisor, and author, he makes a lot of short, easy-to-digest YouTube videos about government and economics. IMHO, he knows what he's talking about.
This book is about how corporations hoard wealth and influence politics, and it will make you just a little bit PO'd. It covers the usual suspects: lobbyists, campaign finance, and corporate welfare, to name a few. Plus, what ever happened to labor unions in this country? One new idea I learned about was the shift from "stakeholder capitalism," the quaint system where companies do what's best for their employees and community, to "shareholder capitalism," where they do only what's best for their investors.
If you're ignorant like me, you will learn a lot of stuff very quickly if you read this book. I highly recommend it.
I think the theme of this book is smash the oligarchy, or something.
One word: educational
Rating: 8
1 classroom teacher: But to be plain, I AM a teacher. There are even other teachers who are not clear on that point and express surprise when they learn I have a teaching certification. Yes, you fools, I passed the same grueling trials that you did, and possibly more, depending on when you got into the profession (either earlier or later than the unlucky crop of us tasked with the most unforgiving iteration of the edTPA).
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard - Chip Heath & Dan Heath (2010)
I read this as part of an optional PD course this past school year (which was awkward: although the course was open to any teacher in the district, for some reason I was the only one who signed up, along with three administrators).
You have a rational mind and an emotional mind, and if you want to effect meaningful change, you can employ this schema of the Rider, Elephant, and Path. The Rider is your rational mind that knows what you need to do and where you need to go; the Elephant is the emotional, instant-gratification mind that does whatever it wants; and the Path is the environment or matrix in which all your decisions and actions take place.
That's kind of the crux of the book, but there's a lot more to it than that. What you want me to do, copy and paste the entire book? Read it yourself.
Each strategy in the book is accompanied by the story of someone who brought about a significant change against heavy odds. You kind of feel like you're watching a breezy documentary when you read this book. A lot of this has to do with institutional change (hence the preponderance of administrators in our book study), but you can apply it to your personal life, too, I guess.
There's a lot of good stuff in this book, and it's worth a re-read.
I think the theme of this book is believe in yourself.
One word: worthwhile
Rating: 9
Sanctuaries: Self-Care Secrets For Stressed-Out Teachers - Dan Tricarico (2018)
Another PD book. Whereas Switch was an engrossing and practical book I'd recommend to anyone, teacher or otherwise, Sanctuaries was predictably stupid and only worth reading for the easy CTLE credit.
Teachers, probably more than any other professionals, are on the receiving end of lots of stupid "self-care" advice. And I get it: low pay, stressful work. I also concede that, although I work hard and do my job well, there are many teachers with more passion, more devotion, more responsibility, and more stress. That's just a fact. To be even more generous, I concede that my particular role, while fraught with special challenges, is less demanding overall than that of a classroom teacher.1 I, for one, am comfortable "acting my wage," by which I mean pausing during high-stress moments to remember that, one, I am a school librarian, not a trauma surgeon or a senator, and the world will keep turning no matter what I do; and two, I am not paid enough to neglect my own well-being. Not every teacher shares this philosophy.
But even so: is there really a functional adult out there who doesn't know how to take a breather when they need it?
According to this book, yes.
"A sanctuary, according to Merriam-Webster.com..." the author begins. Hoo boy. It's gonna be that type of book, is it? The teacher's life, he says, is full of harrowing obligations both within the classroom walls and without; obligations such as "picking up the stuff from the dry cleaners." (Why does this seem to be the exemplar of the "on the go" lifestyle? I have never used a dry cleaner in my life.)
To counter the trauma of dry cleaning, Sanctuaries bombards you with blithering suggestions like typing a literal permission slip to get yourself a mani-pedi, or just breathing. "During a meditation session," the author explains, "I inhale on the word 'peace' and exhale on the word 'tranquility'" (p. 53).
OMG, shut up, you insufferable weirdo. If your stress disappears or is even appreciably diminished by painting your nails or chanting, you do not have stress.
Seriously, the author spends the whole book limning out his ideal of the calm, centered teacher; a grotesque caricature best summed up as (pardon the demeaning label) Basic White Bitch. Work got you down? Read a romance novel in a nice, hot bubble bath while sipping a Cabernet Sauvignon (p. 92). Honest question: WHO DOES THIS? Bathing is a brief, utilitarian chore. I cannot imagine stewing naked in a tub, book precariously cradled above the waterline, swirling a Bordeaux glass like an asshole--and you're welcome for the mental image.
This type of indulgence is what the author calls a "pamper trigger," or something that soothes and comforts you. Other examples include "splurging on the gourmet hazelnut coffee" and enjoying "overly soft towels or a thick bathrobe with foofy slippers that you ease your tootsies into" (p. 130). You might do these things in your designated "bliss station," a place likely filled with candles, throw pillows, and bubble bath. I mean, this guy: you ever decide someone has a punchable face without ever seeing his face?
Big ticket R&R also has its place: "A Princess or Carnival cruise? Great. A trip to the Caribbean? Awesome. A romantic weekend in a bed and breakfast? Don't mind if I do" (p. 113). (I don't disagree, author, but do you have to be such a complete dork about it?) But, he advises, even small moments of tranquility have value. "Between each moment, there is a tiny space, and if you look closely enough, this space contains the entire universe" (p. 119). Oh, DO shut up.
I mean, if this actually helps you in some way, god bless you, but boy oh boy is this a dumb book.
I think the theme of this book is bubble bath and wine will solve all your problems, apparently.
One word: stupid
Rating: 2
Poverty, By America - Matthew Desmond (2023)
Why does the richest country on earth have so much poverty? Really, why? Hint: it's not because poor people are lazy, unmotivated, or stupid. This is not to say individuals have no personal agency or responsibility. But to have such widespread, institutionalized poverty is absolutely a policy choice. Which isn't a surprising conclusion if you're even dimly aware of American plutocracy, or are simply not an asshole.
God, I had this one coworker years ago, she had such a grudge with poor people. Always going on about how people on food stamps should be drug tested, and why must she support people who are "too lazy to work," etc. She EARNED everything. Which was especially rich coming from her: driving a sporty convertible, spending ten dollars a day on coffee (her own admission), living in a massive house. I always wanted to say: bish, you be makin' the same thirteen dollars an hour that I be. You obviously got a rich spouse. No shame in that; Kim makes more than I do, but I don't go around bragging that our combined prosperity comes down to nothing but our superior work ethic and deservingness.
A couple of my big takeaways from this book:
- The problem isn't necessarily that we don't throw enough money at the problem. We spend a lot of money fighting poverty, despite appearances to the contrary, and have done so for a long time, even back when Reagan was maligning "welfare queens." But, like education, like healthcare, this is a complicated problem that can't be solved simply by throwing money at it (even though it seems that, if ever there was a problem that money alone could solve, it would be poverty).
- As you're probably aware, we have socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. That billionaires do not pay their fair share in taxes, and that corporate wealth is heavily subsidized, should surprise none but the willfully ignorant. But I was surprised to learn just how much middle class prosperity is subsidized, and how much we benefit from institutionalized poverty. Just as one example, zoning laws (besides entrenching our self-imposed car dependency, which is a whole 'nother can of worms) exacerbate the affordable housing crisis and act as a moat around the middle class.
I think the theme of this book is poverty is complicated but extremely solvable.
One word: smart
Rating: 10
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster - Bill Gates (2021)
Speaking of big, complicated problems.
This book is a big, accessible overview of climate change and what we can do to mitigate it. The problem is not as immediately solvable as poverty--the solution will involve yet-to-be-invented technologies--but, again, it comes down to popular support and political will. Which is why the United States, at least, will probably continue doing nothing.
Sidebar: Wait, weren't you once a climate change denier? Ehh, yeah, thanks for bringing that up. 'Preciate it. Yeah, I was heavily indoctrinated as a child, and science denialism and revisionism was a big part of my religious upbringing. I didn't even begin to challenge any of that until my twenties.
Anyway, the book begins with a sober assessment of the situation and the difficulty of solving the problem, and it ends with some thoughts on what individuals and governments can do to meet the challenge. The meat of this book consists of five chapters on the biggest drivers of climate change and how we can address each of them: How We Plug In, How We Make Things, How We Grow Things, How We Get Around, and How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm.
A lot of this is just Gates explaining current technologies and practices and describing their current or future sustainable alternatives. Dry subject matter, but easy enough for a dolt like me to digest. Gates continually visits the concept of "green premiums," which he defines as the cost difference between cheap fossil fuels and their (usually) more expensive clean alternatives. The goal, of course, is to shrink that premium to zero if possible, or even make the green option cheaper.
If they could suddenly read, I would place this book on every Fox News viewer's TBR, not just for the science but also to stifle a few of their weird claims about Bill Gates (not that he particularly needs anyone sticking up for him). For the record: no, Bill Gates does not want us all to eat bugs. In fact, he specifically acknowledges that meat is delicious and human beings should continue to enjoy it. However, maybe we can find more sustainable ways to produce it? Maybe those of us who are willing can reduce our consumption? Maybe we can eat just a little more plants? (Seriously, some "plant-based meat" is kind of delicious.) Also, for all his talk about green premiums, not once does he propose raising the prices of fossil fuels to reflect their true cost in terms of environmental impact. That would frankly suck and hurt everyone. I believe that sort of thing would fall under the umbrella of "climate justice." Impoverished nations contribute the least to climate change and are harmed the most by it. Just suddenly proscribing the use of fossil fuels or making them prohibitively expensive would be neither realistic nor helpful.
I know I have swerved way out of my lane not only by reading a serious book but also by straining to discuss it seriously, and I apologize. This is aberrant behavior.
What does Bill Gates say that you, a mere person, do about climate change? The answer will not shock you: not a whole lot. No, recycling and having a vegetable garden will not make any real difference. The big systems that make up our current house of cards need to change. Mostly, it's the boring stuff that won't bear immediate fruit. Vote. Be a conscious consumer when you can, so that companies see there is actually a demand for sustainability. But, like...will even that make a difference? Personally, I kind of doubt it. You can't mention public transit or electric cars or windmills or solar farms without triggering half the country. New York State almost exploded when single-use plastic grocery bags were banned. A server putting a paper straw in your drink is a worse affront than spitting in it. So I don't expect a groundswell of even my lazy, casual level of support for climate change action. Meaningful action, at least on America's part, will come only when it is profitable. I was going to say "when enough people are dead," but consider COVID.
I think the theme of this book is let's get to work on this problem yesterday.
One word: informative
Rating: 7
The Wager - David Grann (2023)
This is the tale of an English vessel, Her Majesty's Ship Wager, and how some guys thought they would go capture a Spanish treasure galleon, quickly and gloriously, and return home as heroes.
Spoiler alert: it did not go as planned.
As it turned out, they never engaged the Spanish ship and instead got shipwrecked somewhere in South America, and that's where things went just a little bit cuckoo. These guys were NOT good at survival techniques, and everybody kind of went crazy. A couple of different factions took shape. It turned into Lord of the Flies real fast. One group got taken in by friendly "savages," who of course had no difficulty providing food and shelter and were by all accounts unreasonably patient and longsuffering toward their English guests. The Englishmen, for their part, were right wankers and woke up one day to find their benefactors had deserted them.
If I remember correctly, one of the other ships that originally set out alongside the Wager did succeed in capturing the Spanish galleon, hauling in the equivalent of $80 million. Which, next to the ships and lives already lost, still came out to a massive net loss for the Crown. (Even discounting the outright losses, there were still expenses to factor in. How was the modern equivalent of $80 million worth the trouble? That might buy the hundredth part of an NFL stadium. Am I missing something?)
Years later, when the survivors were back home in England, there was quite a hullabaloo, to put it lightly. Charges and countercharges. Courts martial. One side claimed mutiny, the other side claimed broken chain of command. That sort of thing. It was a real scandal, and whoever was found guilty was going to get a short drop at the end of a long rope. Finally, the Admiralty, aware of how badly this misadventure could reflect on the superiority of the Empire, basically said, "This never happened, right, guys?" and both sides agreed. Even though it happened hundreds of years ago, this story is a lesson on imperial hubris that resonates today.
Amn't I good at book reports? I am so smart.
Incidentally, one thing that stood out to me about this book was the way everyone involved was obsessed with journaling. It really inspired me to be more diligent about my own journal. These guys, they were starving to death thousands of miles from home, they were cannibalizing each other, and the foremost thought on everybody's mind was "I must record this in my journal immediately."
I think the theme of this book is "it's not going to be short and glorious," as a history prof of mine memorably predicted in late 2002.
One word: interesting
Rating: 8
Boys Adrift - Leonard Sax (2007)
This book explores the reasons why boys and young men are, by and large, unmotivated and underachieving, both in school and in the workforce. Girls and young women get better grades, participate more in sports, attend college and complete degrees at higher rates, comprise the greater portion of the workforce--the list goes on. Although girls and women obviously face their own unique challenges (in fact, Dr. Sax has a book titled Girls On the Edge examining that subject, which I'd like to read next), boys today have a lot stacked against them.
I bought this book because, first, I work with kids and want to understand them better; and because, second, I saw myself in it. It's fair to say I was unmotivated and underachieving from about halfway through high school until somewhere in my mid-twenties. My struggles may not have stemmed from all the same factors the author describes in this book, but one or two of them seemed personally relevant, and I think the overall message makes sense for boys at large.
Here are the five factors Dr. Sax outlines, with my own vastly oversimplified explanations:
- Changes in school: The modern school pursues an accelerated curriculum and is basically gender-blind; differences in brain development and other gender-based characteristics put boys at a distinct disadvantage.
- Video games: Time spent on video games is time that could be spent doing, well, literally anything else. I found this chapter the most controversial, not the least because I like video games myself and I don't think they were a part of my own personal "boy crisis." But I see what the author is getting at. It's easier than ever to get drawn into an unhealthy gaming habit. He further argues that video games cause violent behavior, and cites studies, but it seems like there are just as many studies showing there is no link between video games and violent behavior. In any case, "video games cause violence" is a favorite right-wing talking point every time a school is shot up, so I regard it with suspicion and don't find it wholly relevant to a discussion of academic achievement, anyway.
- Medications for ADHD: This chapter, on the other hand, was the most difficult for me to understand, delving into the diagnosis (and possibe over-diagnosis) of ADHD, the prescription (and possible over-prescription) of ADHD meds, the efficacy (or harm) of those same meds, et cetera. I am not a doctor; I am not a parent of a kid with ADHD; I am not a special education teacher; I do not personally have ADHD. This is a subject I know little about. While he's not totally against the current model of ADHD treatment, the author says we are too quick to diagnose and to prescribe meds, which can be harmful, most especially to boys.
- Endocrine disruptors: Aside from the biggies like lead paint and asbestos, I'm kind of blissfully ignorant of the plethora of harmful substances in our built environment. Not anymore, I guess. There's bad stuff everywhere. Stuff in our water, our food, our plastics. Many of these substances are "environmental estrogens," which are harmful to girls but even more harmful to boys.
- Revenge of the forsaken gods: Probably the least scientific chapter, but no less persuasive. Boys lack a blueprint for authentic manhood--something I heard quite a lot of in Christian-ese, but never in a way that made real-world sense and didn't involve some dork in khakis handing a prop sword to his son at a "men's retreat." Boys increasingly flail during the transition to manhood.
I think the theme of this book is we need to do better for boys (and girls, but this book is about boys).
One word: enlightening
Rating: 9
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It - Robert Reich (2020)
OK, here's one more bonus book.
Robert Reich, onetime Secretary of Labor, seems like an intelligent human being. In addition to his distinguished career as a lawyer, political advisor, and author, he makes a lot of short, easy-to-digest YouTube videos about government and economics. IMHO, he knows what he's talking about.
This book is about how corporations hoard wealth and influence politics, and it will make you just a little bit PO'd. It covers the usual suspects: lobbyists, campaign finance, and corporate welfare, to name a few. Plus, what ever happened to labor unions in this country? One new idea I learned about was the shift from "stakeholder capitalism," the quaint system where companies do what's best for their employees and community, to "shareholder capitalism," where they do only what's best for their investors.
If you're ignorant like me, you will learn a lot of stuff very quickly if you read this book. I highly recommend it.
I think the theme of this book is smash the oligarchy, or something.
One word: educational
Rating: 8
1 classroom teacher: But to be plain, I AM a teacher. There are even other teachers who are not clear on that point and express surprise when they learn I have a teaching certification. Yes, you fools, I passed the same grueling trials that you did, and possibly more, depending on when you got into the profession (either earlier or later than the unlucky crop of us tasked with the most unforgiving iteration of the edTPA).