This is a book written by the famous comedian, George Carlin, who died in June 2008. He was not exactly the most self-censored comedian, but he had many insights on the type of conventional wisdom Americans accept as norms. Having read several books about sociological and general psychological topics, I wanted to read a book about one person to apply the things I've learned from the books. What book better than an autobiography by a famous comic I've heard of?
So far he's covered information on his parents, (Dad-alcoholic child-beater, like many Irish dads of that time. Mother-devout Catholic with high expectations from George) his brother (Beaten more as a child, mischievous with 3 court-martials in the Air Force), and his time in the Air Force (two court-martials).
TOTAL READING TIME: 46 hr.
Page: 69
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Outliers: Conclusion
Legacy
The second half of the book is about the importance of cultural legacies. It's a good point that he makes, but it is also a potentially dangerous when people start stereotyping, which he says in the book. There is obviously a lot of truth behind the importance of cultural legacy. I thought the American summer vacations from school was an interesting topic. I think it's pretty interesting that no one ever discusses that, or at least if they do, they don't get much media coverage about the idea (or maybe I'm just not seeing the coverage). I personally, along with most students I'd assume, wouldn't want to deal with the work load of the KIPP school mentioned in the book. However, I agree with the idea that longer school days would help with understanding subjects, especially math. The kids that don't like math or aren't good at it are the ones that don't take the required time to fully comprehend the ideas. Not many students do there homework outisde of school, especially when they're parents don't pay much attention to theiur school work. Laziness is the primary reason most kids are doing poorly in math. The lack of parental guidance compounds the problem.
I enjoyed reading this book. The author does a good job at sticking to one point and driving it home with stories and intriguing statistics. I'll probably end up reading The Tipping Point soon
TOTAL READING TIME: 44 hr.
Page: Complete 285 Pages
The second half of the book is about the importance of cultural legacies. It's a good point that he makes, but it is also a potentially dangerous when people start stereotyping, which he says in the book. There is obviously a lot of truth behind the importance of cultural legacy. I thought the American summer vacations from school was an interesting topic. I think it's pretty interesting that no one ever discusses that, or at least if they do, they don't get much media coverage about the idea (or maybe I'm just not seeing the coverage). I personally, along with most students I'd assume, wouldn't want to deal with the work load of the KIPP school mentioned in the book. However, I agree with the idea that longer school days would help with understanding subjects, especially math. The kids that don't like math or aren't good at it are the ones that don't take the required time to fully comprehend the ideas. Not many students do there homework outisde of school, especially when they're parents don't pay much attention to theiur school work. Laziness is the primary reason most kids are doing poorly in math. The lack of parental guidance compounds the problem.
I enjoyed reading this book. The author does a good job at sticking to one point and driving it home with stories and intriguing statistics. I'll probably end up reading The Tipping Point soon
TOTAL READING TIME: 44 hr.
Page: Complete 285 Pages
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Outliers
The Three Lessons Of Joe Flom
This section wraps up the ideas of opportunity in the first half of the book. To be successful, it helps a lot to have been born at te right time, have a special opputunity to et your 10,000 hours in, and had the right parents. the book so far is pretty good. Now I get to learn how legacy affects success.
TOTAL READING TIME: 41 hr.
Page: 161
This section wraps up the ideas of opportunity in the first half of the book. To be successful, it helps a lot to have been born at te right time, have a special opputunity to et your 10,000 hours in, and had the right parents. the book so far is pretty good. Now I get to learn how legacy affects success.
TOTAL READING TIME: 41 hr.
Page: 161
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Outliers
The Trouble With Geniuses Parts I & II
The first part of the section deals with the idea that IQ matters to a certain point, such as height in the NBA. The second part of the section deals with the idea of self-entitlement being necessary for extremely gifted people to make it in this world. Gifted kids to learn how to "strong arm" their way to get their necessary needs. Gladwell says that poor children aren't taught this skill like the children of middle-class and above parents. I think that this skill now-a-days can be learned by simply watching television. Any kids show these days have child stars that constantly talk back to their parents. People are always saying kids pick up on violence from TV, so why couldn't they pick up that assertiveness as well? The sense of entitlement will still have a gap considering the amount of personal belongings a child has, but I would argue that it isn't as impossible as Gladwell says for poor kids to learn the savvy required to be successful.
TOTAL READING TIME: 40 hr.
Page: 117
The first part of the section deals with the idea that IQ matters to a certain point, such as height in the NBA. The second part of the section deals with the idea of self-entitlement being necessary for extremely gifted people to make it in this world. Gifted kids to learn how to "strong arm" their way to get their necessary needs. Gladwell says that poor children aren't taught this skill like the children of middle-class and above parents. I think that this skill now-a-days can be learned by simply watching television. Any kids show these days have child stars that constantly talk back to their parents. People are always saying kids pick up on violence from TV, so why couldn't they pick up that assertiveness as well? The sense of entitlement will still have a gap considering the amount of personal belongings a child has, but I would argue that it isn't as impossible as Gladwell says for poor kids to learn the savvy required to be successful.
TOTAL READING TIME: 40 hr.
Page: 117
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Outliers
The Matthew Effect and The 10,000 Hour Rule
Both of these chapters deal with the importance of special opportunities that significant outliers received on their path to fame and success. This idea caused me to think about the famous anti-slavery leaders we hold on pedestals, such as Abe Lincoln, Henry Clay, John Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison. These men were in the right place at the right time to start this movement. With the industrial revolution starting to take a toll on America, the need for slaves was becoming less significant. The incentive for enslaving fellow human beings was declining, allowing morals to resurface on the topic. Of course, as said in American Lives 2, not all slave owners and other whites agreed with slavery. The need for slaves was just too high to make a forceful attempt to abolish it. I think there's a lot of untold reasons for slavery and for its abolition
TOTAL READING TIME: 39 hr.
Page: 70
Both of these chapters deal with the importance of special opportunities that significant outliers received on their path to fame and success. This idea caused me to think about the famous anti-slavery leaders we hold on pedestals, such as Abe Lincoln, Henry Clay, John Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison. These men were in the right place at the right time to start this movement. With the industrial revolution starting to take a toll on America, the need for slaves was becoming less significant. The incentive for enslaving fellow human beings was declining, allowing morals to resurface on the topic. Of course, as said in American Lives 2, not all slave owners and other whites agreed with slavery. The need for slaves was just too high to make a forceful attempt to abolish it. I think there's a lot of untold reasons for slavery and for its abolition
TOTAL READING TIME: 39 hr.
Page: 70
Monday, March 1, 2010
Who Speaks For God?: Conclusion
The Third Test Of Politics: Civility
The author again talks about homosexuals. He dives in deeper to his points he is trying to convey. I agree that we shouldn't demonize homosexuals, pointing at them as the problem to failing families. It is obvious that the lowered moral standards of sexuality have a much larger role in causing those problems. I strongly believe that homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to marry though, but also think they should be allowed to have some rights as family. I basically agree with what the pastor is saying, although I would've liked to see him take a stance on what he believes about the topic as he did later on abortion.
This entire book as calling on people to make drastic behavioral changes, which are extremely hard to do, especially in a group as large as our society. It's good that he gives specific directions as to what he suggests to solve the problem, even though I don't think some of his solutions will work with grown adults (like gang summits and tidy talks with criminals). I also find it amusing that he constantly refers to the need to save "the children". We need to change for the sake of "the children". I just thought it was a bit funny that he used that card, even though there is truth to his point.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a different topic that was pretty interesting.
TOTAL READING TIME: 37 hr.
Page: Complete 193 Pages
The author again talks about homosexuals. He dives in deeper to his points he is trying to convey. I agree that we shouldn't demonize homosexuals, pointing at them as the problem to failing families. It is obvious that the lowered moral standards of sexuality have a much larger role in causing those problems. I strongly believe that homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to marry though, but also think they should be allowed to have some rights as family. I basically agree with what the pastor is saying, although I would've liked to see him take a stance on what he believes about the topic as he did later on abortion.
This entire book as calling on people to make drastic behavioral changes, which are extremely hard to do, especially in a group as large as our society. It's good that he gives specific directions as to what he suggests to solve the problem, even though I don't think some of his solutions will work with grown adults (like gang summits and tidy talks with criminals). I also find it amusing that he constantly refers to the need to save "the children". We need to change for the sake of "the children". I just thought it was a bit funny that he used that card, even though there is truth to his point.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a different topic that was pretty interesting.
TOTAL READING TIME: 37 hr.
Page: Complete 193 Pages
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Who Speaks For God?
The Second Test Of Politics: Community
In this section, the author blames many sources for the gap between the rich and poor. One of the sources he points to is gamblers. He refers to them as "socially irresponsible and greedy gamesmen". I don't think that gamblers are a source that is causing this large class discrepancy. Calling gamblers a source of the problem is like calling professional sports players a source of them problem as well. In most cases, people who become rich from gambling have put the time and effort into their skill that is necessary to earn their winnings. They may be greedy, but so is the rest of the world. As far as irresponsible goes, the only gamblers who are irresponsible are the many that lose their money habitually. In that case, most gamblers are only widening the gap by putting themselves on the poor side of the spectrum. Some gamblers also stumble upon big winnings without any skill. If this was bad then so would the lottery. The author says that gamblers shouldn't be admired. I find it somewhat admirable that people have enough confidence in their skill to put their own money on the line to earn more. It isn't much more different than the stock market.
The author also addresses homosexuals in this section. As a pastor that quoted the Bible numerous times in this book, I was expecting him to quote a passage in which it says marriage was established by God between one man and one woman. Instead, he refers to standard ideas of marriage as a "longstanding and deeply rooted concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman". I find it a tad odd that he couldn't find a single passage to quote referring to marriage. Instead, he calls our ideas of marriage simply a "deeply rooted" idea that is just society's norm, minimizing fact that it is God's law. the author also speaks about abortion. He claims that there is a "middle ground" between pro-choice and pro-life women. There differences between the two seem to be a little too extreme to find a middle ground between them.
TOTAL READING TIME: 36 hrs.
Page: 143
In this section, the author blames many sources for the gap between the rich and poor. One of the sources he points to is gamblers. He refers to them as "socially irresponsible and greedy gamesmen". I don't think that gamblers are a source that is causing this large class discrepancy. Calling gamblers a source of the problem is like calling professional sports players a source of them problem as well. In most cases, people who become rich from gambling have put the time and effort into their skill that is necessary to earn their winnings. They may be greedy, but so is the rest of the world. As far as irresponsible goes, the only gamblers who are irresponsible are the many that lose their money habitually. In that case, most gamblers are only widening the gap by putting themselves on the poor side of the spectrum. Some gamblers also stumble upon big winnings without any skill. If this was bad then so would the lottery. The author says that gamblers shouldn't be admired. I find it somewhat admirable that people have enough confidence in their skill to put their own money on the line to earn more. It isn't much more different than the stock market.
The author also addresses homosexuals in this section. As a pastor that quoted the Bible numerous times in this book, I was expecting him to quote a passage in which it says marriage was established by God between one man and one woman. Instead, he refers to standard ideas of marriage as a "longstanding and deeply rooted concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman". I find it a tad odd that he couldn't find a single passage to quote referring to marriage. Instead, he calls our ideas of marriage simply a "deeply rooted" idea that is just society's norm, minimizing fact that it is God's law. the author also speaks about abortion. He claims that there is a "middle ground" between pro-choice and pro-life women. There differences between the two seem to be a little too extreme to find a middle ground between them.
TOTAL READING TIME: 36 hrs.
Page: 143
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