Hey! This is the wrap up thread for The Meritocracy Trap.
I’m thrilled to announce three books cleared a straight majority of people who want to read them, so we’ll be reading the following books!
Natural Causes, by Barbara Ehrenreich. All about mankind’s futile quest to cheat death. I hear this one is actually a hoot, so I’m really excited. We’re doing this one next, partly because it’s available in paperback for just about ten bucks and should be easy to get your hands on, partly because it’s pretty standard length and I think we could use a breezier one. ($10.49, 272 pages, Amazon or Indiebound)
The Weather Machine, by Andrew Blum. How weather prediction works. Weather forecasting is a technical feat that is the product of generations of thought and research, and I think the story is really compelling. We’ll do this one after Causes, so get in your requests at the library. ($15.99, 256 pages, Amazon or Indiebound)
The Radium Girls, by Kate Moore. This came highly recommended, part science history part women’s history, all about the wartime service of a legion of women who suffered life-long consequences based on their interactions with radioactivity. I’ve wanted to pick this one up for a while. ($7.99, 496 pages, Amazon or Indiebound)
As for the other contenders, Secondhand will be in the mix next time we do a vote on the book, it did pretty well, and I want to dive into that one so while I’m not putting it on the calendar yet we’re not saying goodbye to it. Sawbones, Movies (And Other Things) and Left to Their Own Devices are great reads but didn’t secure a base, so if you like them, feel free to pick them up and read on your own.
Next week: try to get a copy of Natural Causes and just read the Introduction. If you can’t get a hold in time, don’t sweat it we’re going to dive into the book properly the following weekend anyway.
This week: what did you think about The Meritocracy Trap? Would you recommend it to a friend?
I really disliked the first few chapters of the book. But then I really enjoyed the chapters that got down deep into the evolution of education and the workplace. They felt like completely different reads.
Too many of my friends would throw the book at the wall when, in the first chapter, he kind of indicates that we now have equality in the work force.
I would recommend this book to certain friends. I myself found it a worthwhile read. Speaking of which, Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed is in the same ballpark as this book, but I found it to be a better more enjoyable read.
This past week, where I live, whenever you turned on the TV there was this ad for DQ where a young fellow pipes up with "This week I have 23 minutes all to myself and so I was super excited to hear about DQ's new four-strip chicken plate with Texas toast and fries" - the implication being that with these precious minutes DQ was going to help him optimally "fill" them.
I couldn't help but think of MT when reading that, how hard the meritocrats work every week, every day. I am sure almost no one thought that commercial all that unusual. Meritocratic behavior is normal.
And then in the Atlantic there was a great article about the last Nationalist Conservative conference, in which Peter Thiel declares that "meritocracy is dead."
So did I enjoy reading MT? Well, that would be a pretty strong word, but I did like reading all the various histories of how we got here. And the final chapter on education, work and democratic equality certainly are arrows pointing in the right direction. Those "gloomy and glossy jobs" must become dispersed in the middle class. Whether there will be a will to do that, I have no idea, but what ever transpired tomorrow at the Iowa caucuses might give us some hints.
I really disliked the first few chapters of the book. But then I really enjoyed the chapters that got down deep into the evolution of education and the workplace. They felt like completely different reads.
Too many of my friends would throw the book at the wall when, in the first chapter, he kind of indicates that we now have equality in the work force.
I would recommend this book to certain friends. I myself found it a worthwhile read. Speaking of which, Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed is in the same ballpark as this book, but I found it to be a better more enjoyable read.
This past week, where I live, whenever you turned on the TV there was this ad for DQ where a young fellow pipes up with "This week I have 23 minutes all to myself and so I was super excited to hear about DQ's new four-strip chicken plate with Texas toast and fries" - the implication being that with these precious minutes DQ was going to help him optimally "fill" them.
I couldn't help but think of MT when reading that, how hard the meritocrats work every week, every day. I am sure almost no one thought that commercial all that unusual. Meritocratic behavior is normal.
And then in the Atlantic there was a great article about the last Nationalist Conservative conference, in which Peter Thiel declares that "meritocracy is dead."
So did I enjoy reading MT? Well, that would be a pretty strong word, but I did like reading all the various histories of how we got here. And the final chapter on education, work and democratic equality certainly are arrows pointing in the right direction. Those "gloomy and glossy jobs" must become dispersed in the middle class. Whether there will be a will to do that, I have no idea, but what ever transpired tomorrow at the Iowa caucuses might give us some hints.