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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a...
Malcolm GladwellSeems a bit dated now, even though observational sociology shouldn't date that much. The idea is interesting but the book tries to conflate too many different types of social phenomenon into one - the success of Paul Revere's ride, why a book takes off, why venereal disease spreads, why crime rises and falls, why teenagers smoke - which actually have almost nothing in common except that they spread. The smoking chapter particularly lets him down, as it skirts over nature/nuture, genetics and ... (show more)
Seems a bit dated now, even though observational sociology shouldn't date that much. The idea is interesting but the book tries to conflate too many different types of social phenomenon into one - the success of Paul Revere's ride, why a book takes off, why venereal disease spreads, why crime rises and falls, why teenagers smoke - which actually have almost nothing in common except that they spread. The smoking chapter particularly lets him down, as it skirts over nature/nuture, genetics and the nature of addiction, which are superficially treated and detract from his central thesis about the way behaviours are "caught".
I suspect this book will have been very scathingly reviewed in academic journals, if they bothered, but it is still fun to read, and provides some intriguing ideas to play around with, and some handy terms to use in casual conversation. (show less) -
Summoned by Bells
John BetjemanIt's not exactly new, and I only bought it by accident, because I thought it contained the frightfully well-known Christmas poem, which I had agreed to read at a concet. But what a delight it turned out to be. A strange troubled person, our Betje was when young, and how beautifully he evokes the Highgate and Cornwall and Oxford of his youth, a world of stuffy Victorian furniture and empty churches, of ferns, and cricket, and French polish. A pity he didn't shape the book better, ending as it ... (show more)
It's not exactly new, and I only bought it by accident, because I thought it contained the frightfully well-known Christmas poem, which I had agreed to read at a concet. But what a delight it turned out to be. A strange troubled person, our Betje was when young, and how beautifully he evokes the Highgate and Cornwall and Oxford of his youth, a world of stuffy Victorian furniture and empty churches, of ferns, and cricket, and French polish. A pity he didn't shape the book better, ending as it does on a rather acrid anecdote of the fall of the cricket bully, but while reading one is carried away on a warm sea of lovely verse. Rarely has the reading of narrative poetry been so purely pleasurable, and I've read a far few thousand lines... (show less)
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Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That ...
Dan ArielyLike all books of this genre, it raises lots of ideas that get you very excited and provide great material for dinner party/pub conversation. However in essence it is, like all the other books of the genre, self-help for the chattering classes, lots of superficial tips about how to examine your behaviour and somehow improve it. However it is based on lots of ingenuous and thorough experiments, (pace Adina below) but after a while you long for a bit of depth and complexity, before moving on to... (show more)
Like all books of this genre, it raises lots of ideas that get you very excited and provide great material for dinner party/pub conversation. However in essence it is, like all the other books of the genre, self-help for the chattering classes, lots of superficial tips about how to examine your behaviour and somehow improve it. However it is based on lots of ingenuous and thorough experiments, (pace Adina below) but after a while you long for a bit of depth and complexity, before moving on to the the next Amazing Example of Irrational Behaviour. Worth reading but not worht basing anything on. (show less)
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