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Emily May's Reviews > The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
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I saw Jonathan Haidt speak on Real Time and he seemed like an intelligent guy with a lot of interesting ideas, so I patiently waited for this book to become available at my library. I'm also curious about this notion of kids being overprotected or "coddled".
It's looking more and more like the developed world's need to protect its kids, wrap them in bubble wrap, and disinfect everything might be the cause of a variety of unsavoury things, from Berkeley banning speakers to the rise in childhood leukemia. I don't necessarily agree with all the authors' ideas - such as their thinly-veiled disdain for feminists who talk about rape culture - but I do think they make some important points.
The truth is, though, this essay-turned-book should really have just stayed an essay. The authors' three Great Untruths make a thoughtful opinion piece, but there's not a full-length book hidden in the idea. The result of them trying to extend their commentary to a modest 269 pages is a lot of repetition, weak graphs that demonstrate a very small number of people doing a very small number of things, and odd tangents. An example of this latter is the lengthy instruction in how to do Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
A lot of the "evidence" is anecdotal, and focuses on a few extreme cases. Perhaps these are indicative of a larger trend, but I don't see anything in this book to convince me of that. I guess I should have just read the article this book grew out of.
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It's looking more and more like the developed world's need to protect its kids, wrap them in bubble wrap, and disinfect everything might be the cause of a variety of unsavoury things, from Berkeley banning speakers to the rise in childhood leukemia. I don't necessarily agree with all the authors' ideas - such as their thinly-veiled disdain for feminists who talk about rape culture - but I do think they make some important points.
The truth is, though, this essay-turned-book should really have just stayed an essay. The authors' three Great Untruths make a thoughtful opinion piece, but there's not a full-length book hidden in the idea. The result of them trying to extend their commentary to a modest 269 pages is a lot of repetition, weak graphs that demonstrate a very small number of people doing a very small number of things, and odd tangents. An example of this latter is the lengthy instruction in how to do Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
A lot of the "evidence" is anecdotal, and focuses on a few extreme cases. Perhaps these are indicative of a larger trend, but I don't see anything in this book to convince me of that. I guess I should have just read the article this book grew out of.
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Reading Progress
December 20, 2018
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January 4, 2019
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January 4, 2019
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Thea
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Jan 07, 2019 03:53PM
LOVE THE REVIEW, EMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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You have such insightful reviews. I love them.
As a high school teacher, I think I'd be interested in reading this book, especially after your review. I do see more coddled students but I want to know about these extreme cases!
Too bad you are not into podcasts. Ezra Klein has a lot of the authors of the non-fic you’ve been reading on his Vox podcast. He had an interesting convo with Jonathan Haight. It was a lot of lamenting about boycotts on college campuses by Haight. I was petty unimpressed.
Tatiana wrote: "Too bad you are not into podcasts. Ezra Klein has a lot of the authors of the non-fic you’ve been reading on his Vox podcast. He had an interesting convo with Jonathan Haight. It was a lot of lamen..."I found the college protests argument weak, too. In their graphs, you can see they're basing the whole argument on such a tiny number of incidents. The majority of the protests went ignored, too. When I saw him speak, I found his comments on the relationship between social media and mental health - especially in young girls - really interesting. But that was only a small part of the book.
Okay, you've convinced me :) I will try the Vox podcast. Can't promise anything, though. My attention span for audio is terrible.
Do it! Ezra is such a great interviewer so that I feel like I don’t need to read those 500 page books afterward, but know everything worth knowing about them. Very efficient😉
I find with audio stuff I like to do it if I'm doing something that doesn't take a lot of attention but gives me something to do so I don't space out. Cooking, playing a puzzle or solitaire, taking a walk or working out or basic household chores, etc. If that helps.
It's freaking 15 dollars on my Kindle!!! Highway robbery from the sounds of it.
valid points, one and all
You have expressed my thoughts after reading this book so much better than I could’ve! The good ideas would’ve been better received had I just read the essay. Thanks for your review.
Spot on with your review.
Ezra Klein is so coddled he created a website to shield people from real news. He’s like King of the Coddled.
Your review aged poorly considering widespread obsession with "White Fragility" training and critical theory taking over.
David wrote: "Your review aged poorly considering widespread obsession with "White Fragility" training and critical theory taking over."I don't think you actually read my review...
I did. There is more evidence than ever for the trends they outline. Maybe that is mere coincidence and in that sense I'm wrong. Just saying that their book is more relevant now than it was when they wrote it. Maybe if they had published it now and used the many examples we have of what they are concerned about, it would have been a better situation for them. I just think they were on to something and the issues they identified grew a lot.
Paul wrote: "I did. There is more evidence than ever for the trends they outline. Maybe that is mere coincidence and in that sense I'm wrong. Just saying that their book is more relevant now than it was when th..."Yes, but I never said they were wrong. I only said that their argument was weak, supported by isolated examples, and that there wasn't more than an essay's worth of argument in here. That's why I suggested you probably didn't read my review.
Absolutely my thought as well. Great ideas I want to learn more about but not enough was present to justify this book.
Paul, I think you’re a Fox News watcher and a member of the trump cult. If anyone thinks this book is good, they’re dumb.
This was a fabulous review. I didn’t even need to look at the authors to know it was two old white guys lol. This should have stayed an essay
