Book Review: Soccer for Dummies by Michael Lewis

Soccer for Dummies

Overview
My daughter has started playing soccer! Being the American man that I am, I realized that I had no idea how to play soccer. I know you tried to kick the ball in the goal but I didn’t know the rules. Soccer for Dummies was brought home from the local library and read from cover to cover. It contains many facts about MLS (Major League Soccer) from the 2000 time frame, when the book was published, so it was a little dated. It really tries to plug you into soccer culture and history. It could have used more diagrams when the rules were explained. There were fine textual descriptions of the rules, but a diagram would’ve been a much better way to transfer the information.

Conclusion
It turns out the kids soccer book I got for my daughter from the library explained the rules much better. Don’t forget to check the children’s section for information too! You could probably skip reading this book and just do an internet search if you’re suffering from the same dilemma: what are the rules for soccer?

Book Review: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land

Wow! I have some catching up to do. I don’t really have many repeat readers, but I try and keep the blog up to date for myself. My friend recommended ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ by Robert Heinlein to me (that was before he was finished with it). After he was done he said it kind of fizzled. I would tend to agree with him. I generally don’t really get into fiction that much but this definitely was an interesting thought experiment.

Valentine Michael Smith was born on Mars. His parents were part of the first exploration/colonization project. Everyone in the party had died which left him the owner of Mars and the heir to these successful adventurers fortunes. The next set of explorers brings him back to Earth. Valentine Michael Smith has been raised by Martians and demonstrates super human abilities due to his upbringing. He goes about a journey to understand what it is to be human.

I’ll cut to the chase, he learns what it means to be human. Additionally, he learns that humans have the potential to become so much more. He begins a sex cult and considers his friends part of his nest and teaches his ‘water brothers’ the super human abilities. He starts to gain many followers. Then he gives himself up to other religious people to kill him for being a heretic. But not before he cuts off his own thumb and his ‘water brothers’ grok him.

If I found something other than the thought experiment interesting it is the mindset of the author and trying to place yourself into his point of view. This book was first published in 1961. That means he was probably writing it in the late 50s. You will find that is full of misogynistic comments. The most offensive being “Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault.” The women successfully attain such wonderful careers as nurse, secretary, or priestess. The next thing is that there is a planetary government like the United Nations that makes the United States impotent as far as their power and influence is concerned. This kind of mindset is still prevalent when you hear extremist conservatives mention ‘The New World Order’.

You could do worse than spend some time enjoying this book. It definitely shows it’s age but the thought experiment will make you think a little bit more about what it means to be human.

Book Review: Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy

Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy

Free Range Kids – Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy is a non-fiction book about parenting and allowing children to be independent. This book was a fun and entertaining read weighing in at just under 200 pages. It is slathered with humor and sarcasm just the way I like it when reading material breaking down ‘conventional wisdom (Did you know it is a derogatory term?)’. Lenore also keeps a blog http://freerangekids.wordpress.com with the latest triumphs and tragedies that confront Free Range Parents.

The TV is Lying to You
Lenore Skenazy talks about the over reporting and dramatization of abductions. If you watch (take your pick: CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Bones, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU) or the news there is a 100% chance are you are going to be bombarded by psychopathic monsters (and I’m not just talking about Bill O’Reilly). There is a reason for this. Fear, like sex, sells. Don’t believe me? Can you tell me the stories of JonBenet Ramsey, O.J. Simpson, and Caylee Anthony? Now, can you summarize Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist? I find, like Lenore, that people pay way too much attention to television and not enough to their actual neighborhood. It’s safe even if the TV says it is not. Crime statistics are available for your neighborhood.

Responsibility & Independence
Kids want to be independent. I don’t know how many times my preschoolers (soon to start Kindergarten!) have shouted, “NO, DAD! I CAN DO IT MYSELF!” A key notion in this book is about giving your kids responsibility and independence commensurate with their ability. You teach your child the skills they need to know then you allow them to practice what they’ve learned. For instance, my oldest daughter uses the super sharp vegetable peeler and helps peel carrots for dinner. That is because I taught her how. Supervised her a couple of times and then let her do it herself. Did you know what happened? SHE CUT HERSELF! A cheap lesson. A few tears and a band-aide later we were back peeling vegetables. But she is so happy when she gets to help make dinner. As Lenore put it she learned ’self-confidence’ not ‘parent-supplied-confidence’ (a.k.a. Here is your trophy for being second winner!) When we take walks in the evening I have my daughters take turns telling me when it is safe to cross. Teach them the skills and let them practice. It is hard to let go but they keep showing me they are smarter than I give them credit for.

Stranger Danger!
Again, on our walks we talk about strangers. Dad asks, “Is it OK to talk to strangers?” My kids say, “Yes.” Dad says, “That’s right!” Another key theme in Lenore’s book is that not every stranger is a going to snatch you away as soon as Mom & Dad aren’t looking. Some parents might be aghast, “YOU SHOULD NEVER LET YOU CHILD TALK TO STRANGERS!” Yeah, you see… that’s just dumb. Back to the principle of not assuming people are crazy child snatchers. One positive note about my kids talking to strangers is that the strangers want to talk back! I’ve met many normal (non kiddie snatchers) in my neighborhood because they are happy to talk to little girls (even if their dad is a scary stranger). Again, it is important to teach your children the skills they need in case they are confronted with that creepy person. Dad asks, “Do we ever go near a strangers car?” Kids say, “No.” Dad asks, “Do we ever go anywhere with a stranger?” Kids say, “No.” Dad asks, “Would mom and dad ever send a stranger to come and get you?” Kids say, “No.” Dad says, “That’s right I would send … ” and I give them examples of the people we know that we would send to get them. What are the chances that my girls are going to need to use their skill of not going away with a stranger? About 1:1500000. They should know these things just in case. Just like using “Stop, Drop, and Roll”, “Get out of the house first if there is a fire, go to the neighbors, then dial 911″, “If you get lost just sit down and we’ll find you or ask a STRANGER for help”.

Odds of Dying

Calculating the Odds or Parenting by Evidence
I tried to find a reference and failed about how people can’t tell the difference between 1:1000 odds and 1:100000. It ‘feels’ the same to them. Maybe this is why parents don’t want to let their kids outside because they can’t tell that being abducted by a stranger (odds 1:1500000) is statistically insignificant. What parents really need to be worried about are things like obesity, getting exercise, wearing helmets and seatbelts, and sunblock. OH! What is this? Here is some evidence to back up my assertion. This is a nice little article talking the about the odds of dying. I’m laying out the odds for the top five ways you are going to die.

1. Heart Disease: 1-in-5
2. Cancer: 1-in-7
3. Stroke: 1-in-23
4. Accidental Injury: 1-in-36
5. Motor Vehicle Accident:1-in-100

I’m personally hoping for the 1:79746 Lightning Strike on my 120th birthday. So… controlling obesity, getting exercise, wearing helmets and seatbelts, and sunblock helps cut into those odds. And I even get to let my daughters out to play on the sidewalk all by themselves.

This book was a great little read and helps bring things back into perspective as a parent. There are so many experts out there trying to scare you into using the products or captivating you while TV stations try to sell you other products. So, turn off the TV, boot the kids outside, and start reading.

Book Review: Julie & Julia – My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

Julie & Julia – My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell ©2005. I don’t usually read books my wife has laying around, but since I know she is going to drag me to the movie version I would at least be able to smugly say, “The book was much better.” This book covers the adventures of Julie Powell as she tries to cook every recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child in one year. She kept a blog about her exploits that were then organized into a book.

There were definitely some humorous moments in the book describing the anxiety of butchering her first lobster. And the detailed disasters of many failed attempts at completing the recipes. All the writing about the trials and tribulations of cooking kept me entertained. Her personal life and that of her friends kind of disgusted me. Although I’m reading her personal thoughts and feelings (which if everyone knew what I thought would probably be equally disgusted) I couldn’t help but think, “This woman has not matured emotionally since she was 15.” It is important for everyone to nurture the different aspects of their person and I think she learned that by the end of her experience. And the part in the book where maggots and flies overcome her kitchen/loft because she hasn’t washed the drainage rack for her dishes grossed me out. What that says to me is, “We’ll do the dishes but we are too lazy to dry and put them away.” I hate that kind of laziness. It’s disgusting. Yes, everyone is tired and no one wants to do work. Too bad. Come home. Make dinner. Do your chores for the day. Shower up. Kiss your lover goodnight. Then do it all again the next day.

Book Review: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a non-fiction book by Joseph Campbell ©1949. The premise of the book is that there is only one hero story, the monomyth. All stories share similar seeds of the idea of the hero. Joseph Campbell uses hero stories from varied traditions like Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Native American, Australian, African, Irish, Nordic, and the far east to use as examples of the universal condition of man. The concepts in the book are exhilarating, however Campbell’s literary style has him flowing from topic/example to another and then back again. And other than his over zealous support for Freudian psychoanalysis and dream analysis (which was very popular at the time of writing) it was worth a read. I enjoyed Part I which focused on the exploits of the hero more than Part II which revolved around the cyclical nature of the universe and the hero’s role in it.

Mythology has been interpreted by the modern intellect as a primitive, fumbling effort to explain the world of nature (Frazer); as a production of poetical fantasy from prehistoric times, misunderstood by succeeding ages (Muller); as a repository of allegorical instruction, to shape the individual to his group (Durkheim); as a group dream, symptomatic of archetypal urges within the depths of the human psyche (Jung); as the traditional vehicle of man’s profoundest metaphysical insights (Coomaraswamy); and as God’ Revelation to His children (the Church). Mythology is all of these. The various judgments are determined by the viewpoints of the judges. For when scrutinized in terms not of what it is but of how it functions, of how it has served mankind in the past, of how it may serve today, mythology shows itself to be as amenable as life itself to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age.

This book had a profound influence on George Lucas and the Star Wars story. The Hero with a Thousand Faces had me thinking of the many parallels of the hero stories I’ve enjoyed which I would like to align with the chapter titles in the book to add to his examples. So, let’s see how our modern tales fit in the monomyth (paraphrased for entertainment value by myself).

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

1. The Call to Adventure – Take the ring to Elrond.
2. Refusal of the Call – I can’t go I’m in love with the Shire. What’s that? Bad things are coming to kill me? F@#$ this place.
3. Supernatural Aid – Tom Bombadil, enough said. Old Man Willow should have ate their sorry hobbit behinds. Not too mention that Gandalf gets resurrected, talk about Deus Ex Machina. (Not that I am criticizing J.R.R. Tolkien my personal literary god.)
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – Let’s run to the Prancing Pony!
5. The Belly of the Whale – You’re holding The One Ring to Rule them all. *uh oh*

The Matrix by Larry and Andy Wachowski

1. The Call to Adventure – Follow the White Rabbit.
2. Refusal of the Call – Climb out the window?! GTFO. <<Insert mechanical insect>> On second thought, where is that red pill?
3. Supernatural Aid – I’m going to learn kung-fu? Yes dumbass, why else would we stab you in the brain?
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – Free your mind.
5. The Belly of the Whale – Your whole life was a fabrication called The Matrix

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

1. The Call to Adventure – You’re a wizard and didn’t know it. Congratulations
2. Supernatural Aid – Hi, I’m Hagrid here to bust your ass out and be your BFF even though you’ll never appreciate me.
3. The Crossing of the First Threshold – To Diagon Alley!
4. The Belly of the Whale – Welcome to Hogwarts! Time to meet your mortal enemy!

Star Wars by George Lucas

1. The Call to Adventure – Come with me to Alderaan.
2. Refusal of the Call – I can’t I’m in enough trouble as it is! Oh, it turns out my foster parents are dead. I think I’ll go with you instead.
3. Supernatural Aid – “hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side”. Actually, it turns out they are.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold – That little droid is going to get me into a lot of trouble! … I see two banthas down there but no Sandpeople… *URRGHGG UR UR URRRGGGH*
5. The Belly of the Whale – The Death Star. The metaphor doesn’t even have to stretch.

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The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Table of Contents
Prologue: The Monomyth

1. Myth and Ream
2. Tragedy and Comedy
3. The Hero and the God
4. The World Navel

Part I: The Adventure of the Hero
Chapter I: Departure

1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
5. The Belly of the Whale

Chapter II: Initiation

1. The Road of Trials
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
3. Woman as the Temptress
4. Atonement with the Father
5. Apotheosis
6. The Ultimate Boon

Chapter III: Return

1. Refusal of the Return
2. The Magic Flight
3. Rescue from Without
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
5. Master of the Two Worlds
6. Freedom to Live

Chapter IV: The Keys

Part II: The Cosmogonic Cycle
Chapter I: Emanations

1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
2. The Universal Round
3. Out of the Void–Space
4. Within Space–Life
5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
6. Fold Stories of Creation

Chapter II: The Virgin Birth

1. Mother Universe
2. Matrix of Destiny
3. Womb of Redemption
4. Fold Stories of Virgin Motherhood

Chapter III: Transformations of the Hero

1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
2. Childhood of the Human Hero
3. The Hero as Warrior
4. The Hero as Lover
5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
6. The Hero as World Redeemer
7. The Hero as Saint
8. Departure of the Hero

Chapter IV: Dissolutions

1. End of the Microcosm
2. End of the Macrocosm

Epilogue: Myth and Society

1. The Shapeshifter
2. The FUnction of Myth, Cult, and Meditation
3. The Hero Today

Book Review: Cryptonomican by Neal Stephenson

Cryptonomican by Neal Stephenson © 1999

My initial reaction to Cryptonomican by Neal Stephenson is that it was pretty much a waste of time. It is long and tedious and geared toward computer geeks. Usually, I revel in that but this book had some gross short comings. I was recommended this book by a buddy of mine so I made sure to finish. I’ve been giving him a hard time about my most negative feelings of this endeavor.

Synopsis
Cyrptonomican follows two time lines. The first being the modern time of the programmer / hacker Randy Waterhouse and his adventures leaving California and wrecking havoc in Southeast Asia on a new business venture. The second time line is during WWII which follows Randy’s grandfather and others around the world doing cryptographic cat and mouse games. It would be a stretch to call this book cohesive, even following just one time line would have the reader jumping months into the future talking about disparate events. It was most like looking at a time line of history: 14000 B.C. humans crossed the Bering Straight, 5000 B.C. The Great Pyramids were built, 476 A.D The Fall of Rome. Interesting, yet not connected. Of course, the events of the two time lines do interconnect to form a sort of treasure hunt.

The Bad
First off, weighing at over 900 pages make this book a long read. The next major flaw was that there was almost zero character development. The Randy Waterhouse at the beginning of the book is the same as the end, other than he has experienced a lot of different adventures. The love interests of the main characters are present but not useful. Randy’s love interest, America (Amy) Shaftoe, is a Filipino firecracker, what more do you need to know? Stephenson seems to try too hard to use ‘interesting’ words. Early in the book I was looking up 3-4 words in the dictionary each page (which was getting to be quite exhausting for a ‘pleasure read’). By the end the ‘interesting’ verbiage was gone and the dictionary was not needed.

The Good
Stephenson introduces a crypto system in the book know as Solitaire. It’s implementation is described in detail in the back of the book. It was fun and I tried it out. Kind of tedious to do crypto by hand though. The WWII time line was a lot more interesting than the modern. A good portion of the book is detailing the exploits of Bobby Shaftoe, U.S. Military grunt, (Amy Shaftoe’s Grandfather) as he goes with his team to try to hide the fact that the Allied forces have broken various Axis crypto systems. They do this by creating ‘plausible’ situations where the Allies discovered Axis secrets through non code-breaking means. But to do this they have to sneak behind enemies lines, etc.

The Excellent
The strongest point in this book (which is only like 10-20 pages) is where the elder Enoch Root (who occurs in both time lines) is in a Filipino jail with Randy Waterhouse. Enoch Root describes the reoccurring theme of Ares vs. Athena. They are both gods of War. Ares is the primal, raging, wanting to rule, kind of god. Athena, who is know for her intelligence is seen with the Aegis shield and is a protector. Extrapolate that theme to the Axis and Allies or U.S. and North Korea, or any person or group standing up to an Ares. The ‘Athenas’ are supposed to keep the ‘Ares’ in check by using their superior intellect and technology. What is interesting to me is that I’m starting to read ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ which talks about reoccurring themes in the mythologies of all of humankind. I’ll keep you posted.

Book Review: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

My daughter and I have finished working through ‘Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons’ by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Brune. The book delivers on it’s promise.

We started lessons with my daughter when she turned 4 years old. The book gives step by step instructions to the adult for teaching. It introduces the concepts and skills at a descent rate while reinforcing skills that were learned in earlier modules. The child starts by learning sounds and rhyming and then practicing writing the letters. The characters are ’sounds’, so you don’t bother to teach them the letter names. This book uses a custom orthography to represent long versus short vowel sounds, also, they are used for the different diphthongs like ’sh’, ‘ch’, ‘th’, so the child only has to learn one character for one sound. These custom characters are removed from the reading gradually in the lessons. The book also works on reading comprehension by having the adult ask questions about what the child has just read.

The book has some detractions. I noticed a few mistakes in the orthography where they would not use their customer characters. The subtext on the cover says ‘In only 20 minutes a day, this remarkable step-by-step program teaches your child to read…’. Yeah, that’s bullshit. Like every parent I think I have the smartest child in the world and it usually took between 40 minutes to an hour. Maybe if your child is in 1st grade and has already experienced reading and learning to read it might be that short. The first couple of lessons took 20 minutes. Also, this book comes with demands once you start you need to have a lesson at least every other day otherwise the child starts reverting and has trouble with the skills. Also there is stress added to the parent and child because the work is hard and it takes a long time. Sometimes the child just doesn’t want to go through it. But the hard work is worth it. The preschool teachers are amazed when she reads a book she hasn’t seen before. She also writes letters to her teachers, grandma, and friends. There are traces of the custom orthography in her writing and it’s cute. I think we haven given her a great head start. I LOVE TO HEAR HER READ!

So in the end it took us about 6 months to finish the program. Now, I’m taking time to recharge my batteries before I start the lessons with her little sister. She’ll be 3 soon and I don’t want to rush it, but she acts like she is ready.

Book Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Overview

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is a book discussing why some societies became more advanced than others. Mr. Diamond brings together multiple aspects of science including archeology, anthropology, linguistics, biology, botany, and chemistry to point to the most likely causes of success of certain peoples. Guns, Germs, and Steel is published by W. W. Norton and is 512 pages long. The book starts with a question

Whites had arrived, imposed centralized government, and brought material goods whose value New Guineans instantly recognized, ranging from steel axes, matches, and medicines to clothing, soft drinks, and umbrellas. In New Guinea all these goods were referred to collectively as “cargo.” Many of the white colonialist openly despised New Guineans as “primitive.” Even the least able of New Guinea’s white “masters,” as they were still called in 1972, enjoyed a far higher standard of living than New Guineans, higher than charismatic politicians like Yali. Yet Yali had quizzed lots of whites as he was then quizzing me, and I had quizzed lots of New Guineans. He and I both knew perfectly well that New Guineans are on the average at least as smart as Europeans. All those things must have been on Yali’s mind when, with yet another penetrating glance of his flashing eyes, he asked me, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”

Defining Success
For the posting, we are defining success to be the end result of a society having a state (instead of a band, tribe, or chiefdom), having the written language (not just oral traditions), having technology (metallurgy and seaworthy vessels), and having a large population supported by agriculture.

Success is like a good family
A society is successful if and only if all the parts are working in harmony. Like a family, if anything is out of balance the family is dysfunctional. One key to success comes from food production. Those who were able to establish villages and grow an abundance of food had larger populations. It did not take everyone in the village to grow food like a band of hunter gatherers. Because of the abundance of food certain members of the village became specialists advancing the technology of the people. Those specialists made more complex tools like nets and fishhooks and shaped stone tools.

The Fertile Crescent

Next, comes selection of food. All native people learn the properties of their flora. Those peoples with a large selection of domesticatable plants were ready to have a successful farming culture instead of a hunter/gather culture. The Fertile Crescent, the heart of modern civilization, had the most native flora that were able to be easily converted into domesticated crops. These plethora of crops allowed the people to have an abundance of food and a healthy diet. This increased the societies population, which in turn led to more battles won against their hunter/gatherer competitors.

Sharing is another key to a successful society. It was not just the Europeans that were successful. The Chinese were prolific and populated most of south east Asia and developed advanced technology. Technology and crops were shared across and Europe and Asia. The East/West migration was easier on the crops shared due to similar seasons and daylight hours. North/South migration was hard in the Americas due to the desert in Mexico and the tropical zone. Additionally, the narrow isthmus of central America connecting north and south America was a natural boundary. Africa has its own natural barrier to the North and South with the Sahara desert. For example, corn domestication took place in Mesoamerica, around 5-6,000 B.C. It wasn’t until thousands of years later that it was domesticated in the Eastern North America. Whereas the spread of wheat from the Fertile Crescent in 10000 B.C. took only hundreds years to spread across Europe and Asia.

Animal Domestication
Another tenet of success is the domestication of animals. Draft animals allow tools to break through the tough ground and provide a source of protein for a people. Animals that evolved and adapted with increases in human technology allowed them to survive. That is why Africa, Europe, and Asia have a lot of large mammals. You might notice that the Americas and Australia lack large animals that could have been domesticated like the major five: Sheep, Goat, Cattle, Pig, and Horse. Humans migrated to the Americas and Australia around 14000 B.C. In the fossil record there exists animals that met the criteria to become domesticated. There are some theorists that say climate change led to the extinction of these large animals. (However, I don’t see why they would survive 23 ice ages and then die out on the 24th) The more likely scenario is that human hunting technology ran into animals that had no previous experience with humans. They were quickly slaughtered and eaten. Why farm when you can just go and kill yourself some woolly mammoth, giant sloth, or giant kangaroo? The high technology humans killed most of their potential draft animals. The only draft animal to come from the Americas is the Alpaca and Llama.

Disease kills better than a Gun
Along with the domestication of animals, comes close interactions with those animals! The animals most easily domesticated were herd animals and had been herding in large groups for millions of years before humans had large populations. Viruses learned to spread in these large populations (one of those nice evolutionary traits used to survive). However, like good microorganisms a small variation in their genetic structure allowed them to also infect humans that are interacting with their new domesticated animals. Here is list of deadly gifts from our animal friends

• Measles – cattle (rinderpset)
• Tuberculosis – cattle
• Smallpox – cattle (cowpox) or other livestock with related pox viruses
• Flu – pigs and ducks
• Pertussis – pigs, dogs
• Falciparum malaria – birds

These diseases when brought to an unexposed people caused untold hardship and misery. An average of 9 of 10 people were killed by diseases out of the native populations.

However, disease and crop production is a two way street. There is a reason why Europeans had a very difficult time populating the tropics. The first being malaria. There are 5 common genetic traits found in tropical people that help protect them against malaria. One evolutionary change, sickle cells instead of round globular red blood cells protect against malaria. While a negative trait in temperate zones due to anemia, it does a good job keeping you alive in the tropics. The second reason is that the Europeans crops did not translate well from the European climate to the tropical growth zone so the Europeans had a hard time growing their food.

Closing
Guns, Germs, and Steel is not a page turner. It beats you into submission with facts. While all the content if very useful everyone might not find it interesting. (especially Creationists, i.e. those who prefer ‘Truth’ instead of facts). I personally had a difficult time finishing the book because a 100 pages of how crops migrated can make you quite sleepy. However, it does repeatedly demonstrate with examples the theories that Mr. Diamond has formed. Overall, I think this book is worth reading if only to destroy the arguments of those individuals that might suggest that your skin color has anything to do with the success of your society. But it would take a long time to divest all the required information to your opponent. People tend to prefer easy answers like ‘genetic defeciency’ instead of it all begins with food production, availability of domesticatable crops, availability of large draft animals, disease resistance, large populations, natural resources, and technology.

Updated 2009-08-26
It must be back to school time. There have been numerous searches for ‘Fertile Crescent’, did someone not finish their summer reading list? Anyway, one might ask, “Why did the people in the Fertile Crescent with their head start in agriculture and livestock not take over the world?” The answer is pretty straightforward. The fertile crescent is slightly more arid than that of northwestern Europe. When the Fertile Crescent peoples cut down all their trees to make things it led to desertification, whilst Europeans had wood as an easily renewable resource.

Book Review: Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers - The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell has done it to me again. The beginning of this book comes out giving you both barrels. A double shot blast to the psyche. It is so profound and simple it has driven me to the point of agitation and a rapid pulse. Are you ready for it? Talent is overrated. You might have heard me rant about this before on my other post on Expert Theory (what does it take to succeed). Malcolm presents you with evidence about junior hockey players. The cutoff date for Hockey Players is January 1st. That means if you were born January 2nd 1990 you would play against other competitors born up until December 31st 1990. An almost 12 month age advantage. This might not seem like a big deal to adults, but in the realm of childhood it has huge ramifications. Those who are the biggest and more coordinated are also the ones born closest to the cutoff date. Those are the same children that get chosen for the elite teams. Then they play more games. Then they get more experience. Then they show up as the ‘best’ next year. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy! Those born in December might as well not even try out. This disparity carries over into college and then into the professional levels. What is the chance that a professional hockey player (or college or elite junior) was born in January, February, or December? 60%! Hockey is not the only field where this applies. It also works for soccer and little things like your education!

Malcolm Gladwell’s evidence backed assertion is that your talents do not matter as much as you think they do. It matters what family you were born to, where you were born, and when you were born. This has become very personal for me. Allow me to explain. My daughter is scheduled to start Kindergarten next fall. She will be 4 when she starts and turn 5 in September. She is two weeks from the cutoff date of October 1. That means most of her classmates will probably have 6 – 12 months of maturity and growth on her. That didn’t bother me so much but Gladwell presented evidence that a student with an eight month age advantage will score about 81% on the standardized tests compared to the 68% by their younger peers. Holy Cow! I have an August birthday and my mom waited to enroll me in Kindergarten until I was 6. I was always just a little bit older than everyone else. This put me in the advanced reading program from an early age. That means, I got more experience reading than my underage peers. This set me up for the gifted and talented programs which gave me even more experience. This has definitely given me something to think about for my daughter. Do I want her to struggle to keep up with her older peers? Or do I want her to smack down her peers education-wise like a 14 year old Cuban pitching in the 12 year old World Series?

The book slows down after the start and continues to show that circumstances lead more to success than any one factor. He demonstrates that a high IQ does not immediately equals success. He discusses the differences between convergent IQ (can you get the right answer) and divergent IQ (how many uses can you come up for with a brick?) He continues to demonstrate that 1830 was the best year to be born to be an entrepreneur (Cargnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockfeller), The best year to become a lawyer specializing in corporate takeovers 1930, and 1955 was the best year to become a software tycoon (Bill Gate, Steve Jobs). The point that is driven home is that you need a good IQ, not the best IQ, you need a good education not necessarily the best education, and the experience (10000hrs) in your field. What you need more than anything is the proper set of circumstances and the opportunity.

I have been exposed to these ideas before, but this book goes more in depth. I enjoyed reading it. The prose is easy to understand and he presents many interesting anecdotes to demonstrate the concepts. I should probably read The Tipping Point next since I enjoyed his other book Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Published by Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group. 285 pages.

Book Review: Crazy by Pete Earley

Crazy by Pete Earley is an investigative book taking a look at the current state of mental health in this country. This book was precipitated by his son’s onset of psychosis and arrest. Pete Earley’s son, Mike, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. During a psychotic episode Mike broke into someone’s house to take a bubble bath. This was after multiple attempts by his parents to get him treatment that were denied because Mike did not want treatment. His story is sewn in between the stories of others with mental illness. ‘Crazy’ a non-fiction book was copyrighted in 2006 and weighs in at 361 pages. Overall, this book is well written and researched with a focus on mental health in the Miami area. It is definitely worth reading.

What is crazy?
Before we get too far into this review we should probably define the term ‘crazy’. The way it is used in this book is: total bat-shit, out-of-your-mind, eating out of garbage cans, defecating on yourself, screaming at people, hearing voices, seeing dead people, everyone is out to get you, kind of crazy. The John Nash (A Beautiful Mind) kind of crazy is not discussed. Mental illness comes in two main flavors, mood disorders and thought disorders. Mood disorders describe uncontrollable feelings without reasons, extreme depression or mania. This is called Bipolar disorder and is still known by its old name of ‘manic-depressive’. The next are thought disorders where one hears or sees things that aren’t real. This is schizophrenia. But if you’re really lucky then you will a have both which is known as schizoaffective disorder.

Carl describes what it is like to be schizophrenic:

“It’s fucked up, man. You want to know what it’s like? How do I know you are here right now? How do I know I’m not imagining all this? Close your eyes. What if when you opened your eyes, you discovered you was now in New York City instead of at Passageway in Miami? Then you closes them again and when you opened them you were in Los Angeles? Or maybe New Orleans? Or Russia? What if every time you opened your eyes it was like you were somewhere else? That’s what it’s like sometimes for me. You ever have a dream where you flew? Them’s the kind of things my brain tells me is true and I can’t tell.”

The Current State
The current state of the mental health system is pretty appalling. Patients are usually first encountered by police who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill. This usually results in excessive force being used that sometimes results in death. Then instead of going to a mental health facility to get help, they go to jail to get punished. They are usually segregated from the other prisoners so they will not be abused. There is a cyclical process where the mentally ill are evaluated to see if they are competent to stand trial for the crime they committed. If not, they are sent to a hospital where are taught to be competent. Then they go back to jail to await trial where they stop taking their medication or are given different types to reduce costs, then they go crazy again, get sent back to the hospital, then back to jail, etc… Renee Turolla researched the Miami area justice system and said about one individual, “The criminal justice system kept repackaging him with medication. Its priority was to make him look and sound competent so he could continue down the assembly line like so many widgets”.

The mental health facilities in jails have been evaluated before. A panel of experts made recommendations to the jail but Pete Earley had different observations:

“They’d recommended that inmates not be held naked in cells. I’d seen them in C wing naked in cells. They’d recommended that inmates be issued blankets and mattresses. I’d seen them in C wing without blankets and mattresses. They’d recommended that inmates be allowed to speak to doctors in private. There was no privacy on the ninth floor. They’d recommended that the officers working there have special training. None of them had.”

A Problem with Civil Rights
One of the main problems is that you cannot force someone to take medication. They have a right to be as crazy as they want to be. When you ask a crazy person, after they have been medicated, if they should take their medicine the answer is usually, yes. When you ask them when they are crazy they answer, no. Dr. Poitier is the psychiatrist at the Miami jail and was questioned by Prosecutor Leathe at a hearing regarding the mental state of a patient and whether or not the doctor could forcibly treat him.

Dr. Poitier: Yes. At one point in the jail, he was almost catatonic.
Leathe: But didn’t he take his medicine this morning?
A: Yes. He took it today because he knew we were coming to court.
Q: What will happen if he stops taking his medicine again?
A: He will decompensate.
Q: And what will happen if he decompensates?
A: He could ultimately die, because when he doesn’t take his medicine in jail, he stops eating.
Q: Why wouldn’t he take his medicine?
A: He has a lack of insight and doesn’t realize he needs it.

Lack of insight seems to be the real problem with mental illness. Those with mental illness do not think they are sick or they know they are sick but do not trust anyone to help them. They can be paranoid and delusional thinking everyone is out to get them. Pete Earley was interviewing Carl at Passageway,

“Carl,” I said, “if the police had taken you to the hospital and asked if you wanted to be given medicine, would you have gone willingly?”
“Hell, no! When you’re crazy like that, your paranoia sinks in and you think everyone’s trying to poison you.”
“Would you have fought them?”
“Absolutely, and I got several ass-kickings to prove it”
“So you would have rather been left alone on the streets than forced to take medicine?”
“Yes and no. I would have been angry and fought, but if they had stuffed pills down my throat, I would have kissed their asses and thanked them once I got my mind back, because no one wants to be crazy like that”

A Little History
In 1955, some 560,000 Americans were being treated for mental problems in state hospitals. Between 1955 and 2000, our nation’s population increased from 166 million to 276 million. If you took the patient-per-capita ratio that existed in 1955 and extrapolated it on the basis of the new population, you’d expect to find 930,000 patients in state mental hospitals. But there are fewer than 55,000 in them today. Where are the others? Nearly 300,000 are in jails and prisons. Another half million are on court-ordered probation. The largest public mental health facility in America is not a hospital. It’s the Los Angeles County jail.

In the 1960s a trend took place called deinstitutionalization. It was found that many of the state asylums were terrible places. Have you seen ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’? That was not an exaggeration and the current institutions aren’t a rose garden. We did not understand the brain then as well as we do now. Most mental illness was thought to be caused by outside factors, like your mommy didn’t love you enough. So the institutions used things like Freudian psychoanalysis and behavior modification techniques to ‘help’ people. Various treatments of the time including water therapy (spraying with a hose), cold therapy (freeze the crazy out), electro shock therapy (destorying parts of your brain with electricity), and lobotomies (scrambling your brain with an ice pick).

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Then came Thorazine. The first drug to really help mental illness. But then it was abused to keep patients in a near catatonic state.

Needless to say, the civil rights lawyers of the time helped speed up deinstitutionalization. But the pendulum swung to far to the other direction. A mentally ill person’s family and doctor are not able to get the person the help that they need unless the mentally ill person says they will accept treatment. But again, the problem with mentally ill people is that they have a lack of judgment and don’t think they are crazy. The biggest problem with deinstitutionalization is that is just dumped mentally ill people on the street. Where they acted crazy and then got thrown in jail.

What do do next?
Rachel Diaz from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), “There is no magical pill out,” she warned. “The most important thing for all of us to remember is that our loved ones are sick. They did not ask for these diseases any more than we ask to get the flu. Remember, too, that we are not the victims. We suffer because we care, but the mentally ill are the real victims.”

There is some progress being made. In Miami a man has established Passageway, a half-way house for the mentally ill who have committed felonies. The benefits of this are that the patients have the maximum amount of freedom possible. They attend daily therapy sessions where they are drilled on the techniques to recognize the symptoms of their mental illness. They are compelled to interact with other patients to prevent withdrawal. They go on outings to help reestablish their social skills. Also, they voluntarily take their medication to control the symptoms of their mental illness otherwise they have to go back to jail or an institution. Pete Earley supports this as the model for helping and reintegrating people with mental illness back into society.

I’ll finish with a thought from Pete Earley: What is missing in our system today are modern, long-term treatment facilities where the chronically mentally ill can receive good medical attention and, if necessary, can live safely until they can be moved into less restrictive facilities.