Howard Gardner is a mentor of mine. So it was with personal interest that I picked up this memoir to learn a little bit about the scholar I worked forHoward Gardner is a mentor of mine. So it was with personal interest that I picked up this memoir to learn a little bit about the scholar I worked for at Project Zero a decade ago. His voice really comes through in this book. I can hear his didactic tone but also the levity when he cracks a bit of a dad joke. I like the structure of the book around his intellectual development and the set of experiences that contribute to recognizing and using his "synthesizing mind." I came away with a deeper appreciation for Howard and the opportunity to work alongside him and learn from him.
There are also some valuable insights in this book for scholars trying to make sense of their own work, especially ideas that take on a life of their own, such as his theory of multiple intelligences. Howard is rightfully proud of his work despite its misinterpretation and misuse. Fortunately, his curiosity is his guide and his deeply held principles delineate a path toward richer research and applications of his attention toward practical ends in education that have served many people well. I really loved how he acknowledged that projects can fail and some endeavors just simply end, but that there is value in the relationships developed and the people touched by even a short-term effort like the MI-based schools he writes about.
For me, the book was a quick read. And as I am also an academic, there was much wisdom in this meta-narrative from a leading light in the social sciences (or "social relations"). May I maintain his tenacity and curiosity in my own work and keep avoiding disciplinary silos....more
Through this series of essays, Keith Gessen accurately describes my experience during the last five years of new fatherhood. I laughed aloud during seThrough this series of essays, Keith Gessen accurately describes my experience during the last five years of new fatherhood. I laughed aloud during several identifiable anecdotes and insights. Although, I'm not the Russian in my family—the connections to the culture and language of my in-laws is a constant negotiation—and I really appreciated relating to those dimensions of the bilingualism chapter. A part of me wishes I had this book years ago as I was starting my parenting journey. But then the book wouldn't be as relatable as it is—including the pandemic experience—and wouldn't have offered me as profound an opportunity to reflect on my experiences and my identity. I will be recommending this to other fathers of my vintage and fathers-to-be....more
I care more about trees and humanity's impact on trees now. I also want to replace all my daily metaphors and aphorisms with ones inspired by trees asI care more about trees and humanity's impact on trees now. I also want to replace all my daily metaphors and aphorisms with ones inspired by trees as Richard Powers does with the clever language in this brilliant novel. I was blown away from The Overstory. It's good storytelling and a cautionary tale. It makes you root for radicals who dare stand in the way of human civilization to defend the rest of nature. There are so many chewy parts of this novel and its characters' developments that offer seeds of wisdom and knowledge worth cracking opene a dictionary, encyclopedia, or tree guide to learn more. As great literature is capable of, Powers's The Overstory provokes inspiration, reflection, and new emphathies. Highly recommended....more
This is a really accessible introduction to moral philosophy and genuinely entertaining, which is to be expected from the creator of The Good Place. IThis is a really accessible introduction to moral philosophy and genuinely entertaining, which is to be expected from the creator of The Good Place. I loved the show and I really enjoyed this book. As with many philosophy books there were moments of slogging through some vocabulary, but you kind of felt like you had a wingman in Schur, riding with you on the journey. As a parent, I particularly enjoyed the frame story and coda of Schur writing to his kids and wishing for them a worldview and world that was a bit more thoughtful. Recommended!...more
This novel is a great vessel for capturing a slice of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like Bo Burnham's Netflix special Inside, I think Shteyngart's Our CountrThis novel is a great vessel for capturing a slice of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like Bo Burnham's Netflix special Inside, I think Shteyngart's Our Country Friends documents the pandemic's first year with cultural references, emotions, and circumstances that fit the experience of those rich and privileged enough to try escaping their urban dwellings and cohabitating with friends and relatives.
The characters are rich and complex and their shared history and the way it smacks against present relations is the true plot here. COVID-19 is more background than foreground. I enjoyed the story and appreciated Shteyngart's effort to create his own Japanese reality show-like window into the characters' lives. The equally tenacious fights over what is really important and what probably isn't and the inability to distinguish real stakes and priorities by the characters reflects the jumbled and irrational miasma that is the pandemic and contemporary mass culture.
The flaw of the book is lack of real anxiety. The character of Masha representing the one most concerned with the virus and hygiene never reaches the depths of hypochondria and frenetic fear that gripped many people—friends and family members if not yourself. This archetype was missed and would make it more accurate as the time capsule of the pandemic it is being lauded as. The ending is likely to be controversial for some readers. But I thought it was natural—a fitting, half-blind whimper or shrug forward that so many of us are guilty of....more
Among many books critical of social media use, Digital Minimalism is a very accessible and useful read. It synthesizes just enough research and anecdoAmong many books critical of social media use, Digital Minimalism is a very accessible and useful read. It synthesizes just enough research and anecdotal examples to be convincing and then offers well-reasoned recommendations for how to choose a more intentional approach to internet-based media consumption.
Compared to his previous few books, Newport does a better of job of collecting a diversity of voices in his reportage, which strengthens the book's arguments and its accessibility to a wider audience. By emphasizing intentionality rather than a more ideological argument about life purity or economic extortion, Newport offers a big tent for folks to choose to discard the more insidious aspects of smartphone app design, while finding and optimizing for the specific ways platforms can provide value.
To me, the most profound aspect of the digital minimalism philosophy was emphasizing the value of solitude. I had not thought deeply about the idea that humans had evolved to sort through complicated questions during the vast tracts of solitude that were the norm for most of human existence. Solitude has always been a core aid in my work as an academic, but I had not been particularly conscious of it. Now I am seeking out solitude, while also following the advice to reclaim high quality leisure activities, so as to chip away at the perceived value of smartphone use during idle hours.
As a scholar of social media, I am actually embarrassed by how good and useful I am finding Digital Minimalism. I think others will find it useful too. ...more
Wonderful, quick, and practical volume on what mutual aid is, why it is important, and how to create and sustain a mutual aid program. Dean Spade writWonderful, quick, and practical volume on what mutual aid is, why it is important, and how to create and sustain a mutual aid program. Dean Spade writes with the clarity and confidence of a seasoned veteran of organizing and movement building. Mutual Aid is a nice companion to my favorite organizing books by adrienne maree brown. It lacks the holistic and spiritual qualities of doing social change work that brown's Emergent Strategy series does, instead focusing on the practicalities of getting work done. Use them together to develop a robust approach to your own social change practice, that ideally places mutual aid—one of the most powerful strategies—at the heart of your efforts.
As an academic, I would have liked to see more references to literature on mutual aid because I know scholars have written about it and want to follow up on the sources. I also understand that this is not an academic volume and scholars are not (and should not be) the primary audience. The practical tools that are compiled here are formidable. I expect all folks engaged in changemaking will find something of value perhaps new in this book. The penultimate chapter "No Masters, No Flakes" was stuffed with practical ideas and frameworks. I learned about Mad Mapping there for the first time and love the idea of creating a guide to your future self for how to deal with burnout.
As Spade urges, we need more mutual aid efforts in the world and we need more folks reading this book and applying its ideas! ...more
I had been looking forward to reading this book since it came out and finally cracked it on summer vacation. It's an excellent popular sociology volumI had been looking forward to reading this book since it came out and finally cracked it on summer vacation. It's an excellent popular sociology volume that mixes original research with literature review and journalistic storytelling. The core argument of the value and importance of our social infrastructure is inspirational to folks who design spaces and try to cultivate community through their work. It's also a beautiful love letter to libraries, one of our best examples of social infrastructure. The value we place on libraries in the United States is really uneven. Like K-12 schooling, everyone has opinion about what libraries are good for because they went to one as a kid and it either was important to them or it wasn't or they believe it worked for them in one way and that's how it always should be or all libraries are like that and thus irrelevant today. We make a lot of assumptions about our social infrastructure in general. It's hard to analyze one's own environment. Thankfully, Eric Klinenberg helps us see what's there and what's not and what the potential of good social infrastructure design is. I highly recommend it!...more
I definitely buy Newport's argument that the passion hypothesis is a flawed approach to finding a meaningful and enjoyable career. I also think NewporI definitely buy Newport's argument that the passion hypothesis is a flawed approach to finding a meaningful and enjoyable career. I also think Newport offers a framework for pursuing satisfying work that is clear, doable, and just counter-intuitive enough to make this a worthwhile read. It's also fun to read this after reading Deep Work. You can see the seeds of that project and later framework in the ideas presented here.
The book reads a little too journalistically, i.e. light on the cited research, that might support the argument as robustly as I would like. I would also have liked to have seen more examples of work that we wouldn't normally perceive as an object of passionate pursuit: musician, screenwriter, organic farmer, and clean tech vc are all things I can imagining aspiring to be. I would have loved to hear more from folks who ended up in satisfying careers of the "Dirty Jobs" variety. That said, as a fellow computer science professor, it's really handy to have Newport reflect on his journey in that field and career and find his own lesson applications directly applicable to my life....more
I was definitely reminded of Mark Twain reading this short story collection by Nikolai Gogol. The pastoral scenes and biting social commentary—tongue I was definitely reminded of Mark Twain reading this short story collection by Nikolai Gogol. The pastoral scenes and biting social commentary—tongue firmly in cheek as the satires proceed. The writing is really good, almost modern—Kafka 100 years before Kafka. Of course, as Twain did, Gogol assumes the everyday bigoted language of his subjects. There was the verbal abuse of the serfs and the constant anti-semitism, which catches a 21st century reader off-guard....more
This was a good, short novel reflecting on the interactions of parents and children and how ideas and values transition and ferment imperfectly acrossThis was a good, short novel reflecting on the interactions of parents and children and how ideas and values transition and ferment imperfectly across generations. I really wish I could have read this in the original Russian. The translation was good but only offered a glimpse of the rich language used and toyed with by Turgenev. I was certainly thankful for the translations of French, Latin, and German in in the Norton Critical Edition. Turgenev and his contemporary Russian audience were much more flexibly polyglot than I am....more
This would make a good movie will make a good TV series (I see Amazon bought it). I loved the ideas, good main characters, and the well-paced plot. ItThis would make a good movie will make a good TV series (I see Amazon bought it). I loved the ideas, good main characters, and the well-paced plot. It definitely took a few chapters to feel comfortable with the vocabulary of the technology that Gibson introduces in The Peripheral. The characters were slightly more complex than the average cyberpunk cast, and I even kind sorta connected with the main characters Flynne and (to a lesser extent) Wilf. I am generally a fan of stories with morally ambiguous characters and endings. That said, knowing the issues at hand—mega-corporations, climate change, kleptocrats, drug epidemics, etc.—it all felt a little too real 2016–2022. I find myself, against my own critical taste and understanding of cyberpunk as a genre, to be wanting moral purity, clear resolutions, etc. Overall, I think this is a good novel, and I will totally watch the TV series when it debuts....more
More like 2.5 stars than 2. There is lots of cleverness in this volume of poetry and glimpses into the great spoken word poet that Rudy Francisco is. More like 2.5 stars than 2. There is lots of cleverness in this volume of poetry and glimpses into the great spoken word poet that Rudy Francisco is. I really like the invented English words that organize the sections, describing experiences, qualities, phenomena that deserve their own term.
The first third of the volume contains some gems including the lead poem "Mama Saba Asks" that sets up the need to coin new English words. "Drowning Fish," one of the longest poems, is perhaps the finest storytelling in the volume weaving well-worded metaphors, imagery, and episodes to reflect on the poet's battles with sadness. "I Wish You a Checkered Flag" is a clever and concise call to remember others success can be celebrated rather than rued. Similarly, "I Once Held on to a Grudge" vividly describes the ways we build up evil representations of others in our minds like it's a challenge to imagine them as the most monumental of enemies.
These brights spots are surrounded with other examples of clever writing: a good bit of erasure poetry, which does its work well but rarely surprises. The words Francisco invents set up some great opportunities for insight and reflection. But often they feel like starting points that never get to a finish, like the short poems in the volume that feel too short, only beginning to describe a feeling with beautiful articulation and then end abruptly with something less original like in "When You Walk in the Room."
Poetry is subjective and Francisco is the subject in these poems. Many of the poems here are for Francisco and would probably sing well on stage, where a lighter touch helps spoken word poetry connect through the ear to the brain in that moment. They don't work the same way for me, reading them off the page. Others will likely find more meaning or weight in his words. The poetry is all okay, worthy of publication, but didn't hit consistently deep or original for me....more
Thick is an excellent collection of Black feminist essays. We are lucky to have Tressie McMillan Cottom's brain and pen. As an academic trained in socThick is an excellent collection of Black feminist essays. We are lucky to have Tressie McMillan Cottom's brain and pen. As an academic trained in sociology, I particularly appreciate Cottom's approach of blending candid personal narrative, social theory, social scientific facts, and clear as day opinion. These essays are highly readable for a non-academic audience, yet she doesn't dumb down the ideas or pull any punches. She is asking us to do the work.
The book revisits other pieces she has written. Some of the essays are revisions, others are new responses to conversations sparked by old essays. She writes to clarify her own thinking and make clear the social world surrounding us from the perspectives we usually don't hear or ignore. Thus, her essays include narratives and metanarratives. Cottom helps us understand why and how she writes. And she explains her specific goals and vision for a society that listens to Black women, that takes their experience and wisdom seriously. There aren't any hidden agendas here; they are out in the open. She wants us to discuss them. That's the point.
I love her voice (she is also great in her interviews on television and radio), and I look forward to future collections of her writing. ...more
Not as funny or consistent as Brosh's first collection Hyperbole and a Half, but way more depressing. If you are feeling down and hoping that another Not as funny or consistent as Brosh's first collection Hyperbole and a Half, but way more depressing. If you are feeling down and hoping that another misanthrope with a graphical and sardonic sense of humor will pick you up, there are few chapters in Solutions and Other Problems that might hit you just right. Brosh is still a gem of a voice, and I'm glad these stories are out there. ...more
Nonstop action, could not put the book down action. Great nighttime reading for escapism, terrible nighttime reading for falling asleep quickly. ConsiNonstop action, could not put the book down action. Great nighttime reading for escapism, terrible nighttime reading for falling asleep quickly. Consider Phlebas was the first in a three volume boxed set of Culture novels I bought. I had not read any of Iain M. Banks's work yet but had been aware of his influence on my other science fiction reading for a while. I decided to start at the beginning. And it was... okay. There is some pretty decent character development, lots of fun vocabulary in the imagery (perhaps slightly excessive flourishes), and good action sequences, as I said. And yet, it didn't all really work or fit together. Some of the plot choices were disappointing. Some were "Why did you develop that character just to kill them off?" disappointing. Others were just "But why?" It was definitely fun enough as a read but there is a lot better writing in science fiction than this. I'm hopeful that as some other reviewers suggest Consider Phlebas is a bit of an anomaly in Banks's and the Culture novels oeuvre. Here's hoping that is true as I head into The Player of Games....more
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