I listened to this, but also have the ebook. Excellent narration, but text is mandatory as the short (1-2 pages) essays are often dense & need some stI listened to this, but also have the ebook. Excellent narration, but text is mandatory as the short (1-2 pages) essays are often dense & need some studying. For instance, one essay is about "comparative advantage" which discusses tariffs & trade, not something I'm normally too interested in, but I took notice over the simplified example of just how specialization can make even the poorer of two reciprocating trade partners richer. It was brilliant & opened a whole new avenue of thought for me.
The sheer number of essays also requires breaks. There are 175 of them & each is thought provoking. I was surprised how interesting I found almost all of them even though some were fairly esoteric, but they were usually basic principles for the various fields, some spanning many. Any practicing scientist might do well to read this as it would open new avenues of thought within their own field.
Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think is my current text read & its claims are bolstered by quite a few of the essays in this book. Diverse scientists mention how his writing made them change the way they view their own fields. That's great for me since I'm something of a fan & it reinforces my belief in the importance of this book.
The Arc Manor / Phoenix Pick newsletter wrote that Ekpeki's novelette "O2 Arena"--first published in issue 53 of Galaxy's Edge magazine--has just beenThe Arc Manor / Phoenix Pick newsletter wrote that Ekpeki's novelette "O2 Arena"--first published in issue 53 of Galaxy's Edge magazine--has just been announced as a finalist for a Nebula (for Best Novelette) & provided a link to a PDF. https://mcusercontent.com/9f17d596f16...
It was short, so I read it & it's OK, although it took a leap at the end that didn't make much sense to me. Nasty world creating nasty people....more
I've read this both in paperback & audiobook, too. This time I read it on my computer, something I almost never do. I'll skim an ebook, usually of a nI've read this both in paperback & audiobook, too. This time I read it on my computer, something I almost never do. I'll skim an ebook, usually of a nonfiction book to nail down some points, or read articles, but reading an entire fiction novel? It has to be short & incredibly good. This is both & yet I don't even like Parker, the main character. In fact, I rarely like any of the characters nor the way they make their living. I despise it. So how come I'm always rooting for Parker? I have no idea. He shows few hints of humanity, but those are fascinating.
"Payback" (1999) starring Mel Gibson is based on this novel & the first part follows it well. It set Porter's character up well early on pretty much the same way as the book. I really liked the humor added to it. James Coburn complaining that Porter was just mean for shooting his alligator luggage makes me LOL every time. Even Kris Kristopherson did well & he's not my favorite actor.
I'd seen the original release at least a couple of times when I got a chance to watch the Director's Cut. That really surprised me by changing quite a bit of the ending - the last 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the movie. Very different, but every bit as good, maybe better.
There were 2 other movies made based on Parker that I've seen. "Point Blank" (1967) starring Lee Marvin is also based on this book & was really good. "Parker" (2013) starring Jason Statham is based on Flashfire (Parker #19). He just did his normal thing, so it was a fun action flick, but that's it. He's not really a 'Parker' type. Too much emotion. ...more
This is a subject I know a little about from our small flock & the hand craft perspective of knitting/crocheting yarn I've spun from fleece. That's juThis is a subject I know a little about from our small flock & the hand craft perspective of knitting/crocheting yarn I've spun from fleece. That's just enough to know how ignorant I am, especially about the commercial processes, so I really looked forward to this teaching me more. It's well narrated by the author, but it was an educational disappointment especially given the high rating it has. The overall journey of her "white bale" from sheep to finished yarn could have been really interesting if she'd actually done some research & used hard numbers. Instead she seemed to think total ignorance was the way to walk into new, complex situations. This was dumbed down because complex processes were often too much for "poor-little-old me" to handle which is ridiculous! She can't be as stupid as she makes out.
She constantly used vague terms like 'eco-friendly', 'organic', & 'natural'. I'm all for being 'eco-friendly' & she missed plenty of opportunities to show how being so is probably less expensive in terms of sewage & waste disposal if nothing else, but she never mentions this or why any of these are actually 'good' or even what the alternatives are. As she constantly points out, the wool industry has just about disappeared in this country & is in trouble around the world. I know this & we're on the same page when it comes to our love of wool, but economics is full of hard numbers that must be met or the business isn't sustainable.
There were no pictures, although she mentions taking them, so I had to search out pictures & further explanations of complicated equipment online. I couldn't even find them on her blog or web site which I'll list at the bottom of this review. Overall, this was a disappointment; a vapid day trip instead of a decent look at the industry.
Table of Contents Introduction: Girl Meets Bale: Interesting. A 676 pound bale of wool sounds like a lot to me since I can take years to spin & knit up a single fleece, but apparently it's an awkward amount; too big for hand & too small for commercial. Her solution is cool - crowd sourcing the financing & processing in 4 batches, but I was left with a lot of questions: Why 4 batches? About how many fleece in a bale? Why is the bale this weight/size?
CHAPTER 1 - Wool Harvest: I had as little to do with our 50 Dorset ewes as possible & Mom sold them off 25 years ago, so I don't know much yet I still found this chapter horribly lacking. She obviously doesn't know a thing about sheep or shearing & didn't bother to do any research before or after. Instead she relied on a single day visit to one farm & wasted space describing her feelings of ignorance & wonder. She barely describes the flock or farm.
She didn't mention that there are 3 basic types of sheep: fiber, meat, & dairy. In all types, half the lambs are male & are usually butchered. She does mention turning some of the lambs into sausage, but she fails to mention what that means in terms of time, labor, feeding, or why they aren't kept for wool in the fiber breed she is 'researching'. Since meat lambs are an Easter specialty, our breeding & thus lambing season varied. Mom set it with extra feed & letting loose the rams. (Sheep don't take well to artificial insemination.) That meant a partial shearing was needed if there was an early lambing. Parkes does mention some of the dangers of not shearing the teat & backside areas.
Parkes didn't describe anything about feeding or caring for the sheep beyond a vague story of their grazing. Nothing about birthing, a relatively short period (maybe a month) of little sleep punctuated by moments of terror when there is trouble. There's constant counting & scanning of the fields for newborns, too. She says nothing about tail docking & neutering or how/why these are done.
She also didn't see the cutest moments in creation when the lambs are nursing with their butts wiggling & tails spinning like a propeller. Or when they're playing "King of the Mountain" with their mother as the mountain. She didn't mention if the number of lambs was bred for in this flock or how many they typically had. Our Dorsets averaged more than 2 & we bred for 3 since that meant more money. Was that a consideration with the Merino flock?
Worst of all, she completely misses conveying the tension & wonder of shearing. In Maryland, we used to get an Australian crew who roamed the world following the shearing seasons to help shear ours. In a few minutes, they used a 3" wide head the clippers to cut the fleece off in a single piece while rolling the ewe around to gain access. Wow! This 2 minute video shows the process fairly well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53KoR... Then we'd have to rush to get the ewe & fleece out while getting another in through temporary gates. It was crowded & there were cut/squished hands, sweat, & cussing. The Merino flock she saw was always sheared the first week of March by a local. End of story. Boring.
Why is keeping the usable fleece in one piece so important? I still don't know & I was hoping to learn. She mentions inadvertently cutting the skin, but not that it's a lot tougher to do with modern shears compared to the grass clipper things that some still use. She didn't mention the clippers or anything about their history. She mentions rooing (plucking fleece) but nothing about the time frames or types/breeds. Nor did she mention how the the ewe is positioned to stretch the skin to avoid this - it's a high skill. I hoped she'd teach me more, but even I could easily add a chapter to her poor coverage.
Belly, leg, & bottom fleece is soon trashed & she does describe both the process & the reasons for that well enough, but she makes bagging the fleece seem easy. Hah! It's a nasty job that leaves everyone covered in greasy, smelly lanolin mixed with manure from the unwashed fleece. We had a metal staircase to hold the 3'x8' burlap bag once we'd filled what we could from the floor. I eventually had to climb down into it & pull the fleeces past me to where I could stomp them tight. When I worked my way to the top, I'd sew it shut & tip it onto the forks of the tractor since it weighed 300 lbs or so. This whole chapter was far too superficial & missed far too many important points. Not a good start.
CHAPTER 2 - Double Bubble Bale and Trouble: The lack of scouring & processing facilities as they close due to offshoring & the entire process was interesting. Again, her lack of prior research & preparation was irritating. I don't understand why she seems to think going in blind is a good thing. She admits to missing too much each time & yet continues to do it.
CHAPTER 3 - Infiltrating Big Wool: I like her idea that the American Sheep Industry Association should pay attention to the little guys, but I wonder if the numbers back her up? We won't learn it with her lack of research & vague wishes. She didn't even mention that the 1995 loss of the wool credit put a lot of smaller operations out of business. Mom sold her flock then because it cost more to shear the sheep than she got for the wool. Even with her shearing as many as she could & most of the income coming from meat sales, the loss was enough to make her operation a financial loss. She found the market glutted with others selling, too.
CHAPTER 4 - Moving Bodies: Shipping sucks, but she knows people who do it & yet she asked none for advice. She's supposed to be a kind of investigative reporter & yet she can't figure out how to find someone in the industry to explain it? I'm not & yet I've managed it a couple of times including getting things crated. Her trials opening the bale just made her seem like an idiot. She finally does say there are 183 fleeces in her bale.
CHAPTER 5 - Ready to Roll: Repacking the wool was simple since she had the talent right there & should have known it. She must have known it & just wrote this to make herself seem stupid. Well, intentional ignorance is stupidity.
CHAPTER 6 - Bartlett Bound: Her description of the business, plant, & machinery were OK, but I really didn't get what a spinning mule was. I googled it & immediately found a good page from the UK. https://www.belpernorthmill.org.uk/co... Why couldn't she provide pictures, illustrations, or even the names of helpful sites to search for?
CHAPTER 7 - The Stradivarius of Salvage: How different methods create different yarns is really interesting, although I don't have her feel for yarn. I feel their pain at keeping old equipment working, but wonder at their economics. Being down for 6 months due to the lack of a part seems ridiculous when new equipment is available. Again no numbers to make sense of it, though. Parkes is more in her comfort zone working with fibers, so there's a little more depth. Still no pictures so I had to search the Internet.
CHAPTER 8 - Journey to the Heart of the Madder: Natural dyes are interesting & I've tried a few in woodworking, but would never use them on wool. Parkes lists a few reasons most don't use them any more, but fails to mention some can cause rashes when sweat leeches them on to skin. I saw a really bad case from a scarf sold at a craft sale where I was selling my bowls. It was fast & furious. 'Natural' doesn't equate with 'healthy' or 'good', it simply means a lot of chemicals that are unknown. 'Organic wool' is a scam.
CHAPTER 9 - Rust Belt Revival: I was really lost in her machine descriptions in this chapter, but the business side was a little better. Interesting family & struggle.
CHAPTER 10 - Tree House Confessions: The best chapter, IMO. I hand dye my own yarn & I've actually tried one technique described here (squishing in multiple dye colors which I thought of on my own) but I didn't know about steaming. I had the problem described with mixing & muddy colors. I'll have to delve more into finishing techniques since I had no idea it could change the yarn so much. This is more like it!
CHAPTER 11 - Saved by the Ball: I had no idea baseballs were covered in wool. It's really scary that a single contract can make or break a company too, but I work for a small manufacturing company & know how easily it can happen. I owned a Navy Pea jacket for years & loved it. Finest kind & it will be a shame if they do away with them.
CHAPTER 12 - Halloween Spooktacular at the Haunted Dyehouse: Interesting commercial dye information, people, & business, but she dismisses a fairly straightforward calculation as too complicated for her. Again, idiocy is not cute.
CHAPTER 13 - Casting Off: Sums up the book fairly well, although the names came at me a bit too fast, so I had to read them in the ebook. It was nice to find out what happened to the people & businesses she'd visited years before in her quest.
I agree we need to tell people about wool, but I think college is too late. Teach kids in school. Bring back the Industrial Arts programs. Kids are curious & eager to learn even from an old curmudgeon like myself. I've taught some woodworking, knitting, & such. Some have 'helped' me fix their parents' spinning wheels, looms, & made their own knitting needles & crochet hooks. Hands on learning early usually beats books later.
If you're interested in fiber, I highly recommend The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. It's a bit much, but a great reference & worth skimming through before going to any fiber festivals.
I picked this as the Sep2021 Short Story group read for the Evolution of SF group. Some of SF's finest work is in the short stories, so I pick a free I picked this as the Sep2021 Short Story group read for the Evolution of SF group. Some of SF's finest work is in the short stories, so I pick a free one. It can be from any date & area. This one is fairly new & is written by... well, I won't say since I think not knowing until the end helps prove that people are the same all over the world. We're discussing it here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The story was good, fairly short, & mightily depressing. Not an easy read, but definitely moving. I had to search out a few things.
manioc is another word for cassava, a root that is a staple in much of the world. I know it best as what tapioca is made from. It was also mentioned in a book I read recently as poisoning poor people when its price goes up. Apparently they wind up selling all they've processed because they need the money & eat the unprocessed root which is toxic.
après moi sounded familiar, but I couldn't define it. It's part of an expression "après moi le deluge" attributed to Louis XV describing people who behave as if they don't care about the future, since the "flood" will happen after they're gone. His ineffectual rule contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution 15 years after his death.
cetiya are objects & places used by Buddhists to remember Buddha.
I wondered about the location since it was quite generic at first. The names didn't narrow it down for me. It wasn't until I tried searching on the foreign script about loneliness that I could nail it down to (view spoiler)[Sri Lanka since it's Sinhala. Indeed, the end note says the author is from there. (hide spoiler)]
This is the November 2020 short story for the Evolution of SF short story read. Invasive pest control in ecosystems is a hot topic today. In the past This is the November 2020 short story for the Evolution of SF short story read. Invasive pest control in ecosystems is a hot topic today. In the past decade, I've lost about 20% of the trees in my small woods to an invasive pest. The Emerald Ash Borer has killed every mature ash tree, so this is a subject near & dear to me. Williams answer to a similar problem is well done, too. You can find the discussion topic here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
A look through the eyes of an artificial person that is really well done. It covers many years of 'life' & ends well. Highly recommended. Thanks to Peter for turning me on to it....more
Another great addition to the Parker novels. I wish the library had it on audio, but they don't so I read a print version. Very glad I did as it fillsAnother great addition to the Parker novels. I wish the library had it on audio, but they don't so I read a print version. Very glad I did as it fills in a lot for the next book, Ask The Parrot. Be prepared to read it immediately after this one since this one ends on a cliff-hanger. I hate/detest that, so it loses a star for that.
Otherwise, this was a top notch, typical Parker novel. As usual, everything goes wrong, but Parker stays cool & takes care of business. He's not a very nice guy; he defines "amoral". He knows what he wants & doesn't much care what happens to the rest of the world so long as they don't get between him & his goal. When they do, he takes the most efficient path through the obstacle. Lots of fun!...more
There's a lot to be learned from history. The current popularity of destroying, vandalizing, &/or moving all Confederate statues simply ignores & whitThere's a lot to be learned from history. The current popularity of destroying, vandalizing, &/or moving all Confederate statues simply ignores & whitewashes it. Yes, some of the statues can & should be moved, but they're all being treated the same & they shouldn't be. This quick sketch Confederate Kentuckians shows that well. Families were split apart over the issues with many becoming Confederates because they believed in state rights & 'the North invaded Kentucky's neutrality', even though they'd argued against secession before. Some were young, dumb, or had Southern loyalties through family & friends. It wasn't a simple choice for them.
With the advent of the Civil War, [Roger Weightman] Hanson was faced with the same dilemma that confounded many of his contemporaries. Torn between his love for the Union and his sense of obligation to the rights of the State of Kentucky, he determined to uphold the Constitution but desired to remain neutral. To George D. Prentice, editor of the Louisville Journal, Hanson publicly avowed to be a "Union man without ifs or buts." Soon, however, he did a political about-face and decided that his future and his ties lay with the Confederacy. Hanson was not alone in his decision. Two of his four brothers joined the Confederate ranks, and two others embraced the Union cause. Like Kentucky, the Hanson family was torn apart by the war.
I didn't pay much attention to what most of these soldiers did during the Civil War, but read about their early life, why they joined the Confederacy, & what they did later. Some were outright bastards, but there's a lot of diversity. Some went on to become excellent citizens. Abe Buford is best known around here as starting Bosque Bonita Farm, a Thoroughbred breeding & racing stable, even though he was also governor of the state during part of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
A better example is John Castleman's statue which was recently removed. Even a brief look at the history of Kentucky & Castleman shows that he was a pretty great guy who didn't choose well as a young man. He was just 19 when he joined the Confederacy, but later was a strong & early advocate for social justice in Louisville & his statue was dressed in civilian attire - it was NOT a Civil War statue. He said he'd salute any ranking officer whether they were black or white & he fought hard to keep KY parks integrated, besides helping keep KY together after Governor Goebel's assassination. He was part of the invasion of Puerto Rico & became military governor of the island. Yet all he's remembered for is being a Confederate in the Civil War. Ridiculous! He's exactly what we should all aspire to; outliving a bad decision made by our younger selves. He didn't let it define him, but moved on & accomplished good things.
Many should be remembered for their service & bravery even though I disagree with their thinking & cause. I have to admire & wonder at General Hood as he had himself tied into his saddle so he could lead his men into battle. He lost use of his left arm, but soldiered on & another wound caused him to have his right leg amputated. He still fought on! After the war, he went on to father a bunch of kids. Now that's an example for anyone pushing through adversity.
Anyway, this is a pretty quick read that shows the Civil War was made up of real people who made some tough decisions. I think some were wrong, but there are plenty of lessons to be learned. The politics of the time were just as partisan as they are today & that led to some really bad decisions.
Each bio is by a different author, so the tones vary from very dry to almost fun. It's laid out well to look up a particular person. Highly recommended! This book is free from the UK Press, but the time might be limited. Download it here: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_milita... I looked for a sister volume of 'Kentuckians in Blue' & couldn't find one. That's a shame & one reason I didn't give this 5 stars.
Parker in jail! That's a place he's avoided for a long time & it's great how he manages to make that seem like the most pedestrian problem in the bookParker in jail! That's a place he's avoided for a long time & it's great how he manages to make that seem like the most pedestrian problem in the book. There are plenty of more interesting ones. The writing isn't as tight as the original ones, but it's better than some of the others this far into the series. There's a bit more story here than there has to be, but it was fun. On to read the next....more
It was short, but not very good. The characters were caricatures & stilted. Worse, I didn't really get any sense of overall logic in the story; one reason I don't read much paranormal stuff any more. Still, thanks to Peter who turned me on to it in his review....more
A surprisingly well crafted story from the Golden Age of SF, 1955 specifically, by one of the masters of the field. I won't say more about the plot siA surprisingly well crafted story from the Golden Age of SF, 1955 specifically, by one of the masters of the field. I won't say more about the plot since I don't want to spoil it, but it's well worth reading & FREE! You can find it on Gutenberg.org here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31979... It's not too long & well worth reading for itself & its influence on later SF. It was a great pick by Ed for the April short story in the "Evolution of SF" group. The topic is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ...more
This is a prologue & thus doesn't feel particularly complete. There was some attempt to fill in the gaps, but I think it would have been a lot better This is a prologue & thus doesn't feel particularly complete. There was some attempt to fill in the gaps, but I think it would have been a lot better if I'd read the first book in the series first. I felt rather lost & it ends abruptly. I'm giving it 3 stars as an intro to the series. I didn't find it compelling enough to want to read further, but it is good for what it is....more
Nope. I just can't work up any interest in this suit. I don't know why I even started it since my GR friend Dan laid out all the issues so well in hisNope. I just can't work up any interest in this suit. I don't know why I even started it since my GR friend Dan laid out all the issues so well in his review. I guess I added it to my Kindle before he reviewed it.
I've worked in IT for a couple of decades & have dealt with screwed up payroll multiple times, although for smaller companies. It is butt-clenching, even though I'm also on salary & not affected by hourly payroll screwups. I know what it's like to live from paycheck to paycheck, so I have a lot of empathy, but I also know how it's fixed....more
Another book on Intelligent Design (ID) recommended by a friend & a store. Challenging the mechanisms of evolution is fine, but this is just bad scienAnother book on Intelligent Design (ID) recommended by a friend & a store. Challenging the mechanisms of evolution is fine, but this is just bad science that is obviously agenda-driven. The only good reviews of this book come from religious sites while the sites devoted to science have negative ones.
Behe apparently maintains that mutations can only break things and an intelligent intervention is required for innovation. That's ridiculous. Anyone who has ever raised bacteria in a pan with an antibiotic or mild poison in it can watch the refutation over a few weeks. There's a 2 minute YouTube video showing this here by Harvard Medical School, but it's easy enough to do even in a high school classroom or at home.
How a college professor can spout such nonsense is beyond me. This review shows where he's cherry-picked data to make his point, a heinous crime. Here is another review detailing his assertions & why they're wrong.
Do not bother reading this or any other book by Behe. He's obviously a charlatan slightly slicker than Wakefield since he hasn't gotten sacked yet. Hopefully soon.
Standard Disclaimer Look at what shelves this book is on. If it is 'did-not-finish' then I tried it & didn't like it. No, I do not have to finish a book to give it a star rating or a review. If you don't like that, tough. Have a nice day.
If the book is on my 'do-not-read' shelf then it was shoved under my nose or something about it made me think I might want to read it. I did some research & found that it was crap. I'll post why I think so & might even rate it with 1 star if it is really bad. If you disagree & want to discuss in the comments, you need to prove that it isn't with solid evidence. That means peer reviewed science, not anecdotes, opinions, or sites that are biased. Read the Debunking Handbook which is available for free here & follow its guidelines for providing proof. I'm willing to look at good evidence. I've been wrong before.
Comments that don't adhere to the above will be deleted. We're not going to change our minds if you just want to troll. If you repeatedly troll, your comment will be flagged & support will spank you. I may block you, too....more
Not really SF, it's pretty much the state of social media today & it can be horrible, especially with hot topic issues. This covers both the victims' Not really SF, it's pretty much the state of social media today & it can be horrible, especially with hot topic issues. This covers both the victims' & the troll's thinking well. Good pacing. Just be aware that this is true horror.
Another great addition to the series. Matt, the MC, is a character I can really relate to & Charnes puts him into very rough, but realistic (if exoticAnother great addition to the series. Matt, the MC, is a character I can really relate to & Charnes puts him into very rough, but realistic (if exotic) situations. This one was as good & twisty as the previous ones. Not much violence or anything too rough, but it's tense & had me dying each time I had to put the book down.
These books should be read in order. They stand well enough alone, but there is background & character growth....more
This quote from Time magazines sums up the book well: “Until recently, there have been two groups of people: those who argue sex differences are innatThis quote from Time magazines sums up the book well: “Until recently, there have been two groups of people: those who argue sex differences are innate and should be embraced and those who insist that they are learned and should be eliminated by changing the environment. Sax is one of the few in the middle—convinced that boys and girls are innately different and that we must change the environment so differences don’t become limitations.”
This is the latest edition & has material not found in the first. It includes 3 chapters which he says should be read as a unit on differences in gender identity & such. The appendix are worth reading, too. He's a bit repetitive, but very clear & backs up his opinions with studies as well as over 30 years of practice in the field. (He says so way too often!) Still, I highly recommend this in any format.
Update: After reading a number of reviews that I thought were wildly incorrect about this book, I found a 2005 edition in ebook format & there are a number of differences. For instance, reviews mentioned that he advocated spanking a child & single-sex schools. There was nothing like that in my 2017 edition, but there is in the 2005 edition. He didn't mention that he changed his opinions at all in my edition. I wish he had. It's fine to change opinions, but they should be acknowledged. Definitely get the 2017 edition of this book.
This is REALLY important for all teachers & parents to read, especially with the prevailing PC notion that gender is cultural. It's not, at least not fully. Culture extends biology. Male & female brains start out the same but develop differently when the first dose of testosterone is generated in the 7 week old fetus. As we age, after puberty, the differences decrease. They're huge in younger children, so teaching (both in school & at home) really has to be geared to the sex of the child. Boys often feel stupid in kindergarten as they're not ready to learn what used to be the first grade curriculum yet while girls are. It's often better to keep the boys in preschool another year. Girls were more engaged by physics if it was taught addressing the 'why', such with the wave/particle duality of light section first rather than the typical way of 'what', the kinetics (actions) which hooks the boys. Failure to engage the child means they lose interest & motivation.
We raised 2 boys & a girl (as well as many semi-fosters that still call us Dad & Mom) & I am impressed that Sax put into words & explained so many things I was unable to articulate or fully realize that drove me crazy with the gender neutral ideas that the schools had. I was terribly frustrated by the stupid 'no tolerance' policies of the schools around the 90s & I'm horrified that they've gotten even worse. Boys engage in riskier behavior, interact, & play far differently than girls. Boys roughhousing is natural & tends to bond them, just the opposite of girls. By insisting that gender differences are cultural rather than partially innate, the PC crowd is causing stereotypes as bad or even worse than the ones it is trying to dismiss & Sax shows how. We're also not replacing the underlying morality that accompanied the 'lady' & 'gentleman' with other examples, a huge oversight.
Of course, the difference between the sexes is not a single dimension absolute, it's a range that is indicative. Each kid needs their own special blend of parenting in discipline, motivation, & more. In my family, both sexes work & play hard without regard to their sex, just personal preference. Both sexes had complete toolboxes & the knowledge to use them before they left home. They could also cook, clean, & sew. I did all the sewing for the kids while my wife & mother worked with horses, mostly racing Thoroughbreds which are tough & aggressive. Still, the girls don't like loud machinery & toys while the boys reveled in them. Still, one boy was quiet & studious while the other was the wild, stereotypical monster. A harsh word was all the discipline the first needed while I sometimes thought a baseball bat wouldn't get through to the other.
According to Sax & studies that he cites, generally girls & boys see, hear, & smell differently. Girls tend to draw in many colors & tend to draw things. Boys use fewer colors & tend to draw action. Females have almost twice as much of their brain devoted to smelling than males. Boys don't hear as well, so a teacher generally has to speak about 8 decibles louder for them while fathers often have to make an effort not to speak so loudly to their teenage girls or else they seem to be shouting. (I asked my daughter & was told "Yes!" emphatically.)
One study found that women straight out of college made about 8% less than men for the same jobs (about $4500). Another found that only 7% of the women asked for more money at the initial interview while 57% of the men did & it earned them more (about $4500). Asking for more money is aggressive, risky behavior. Male primates (from monkeys to humans) are 10 times as likely to engage in risky behavior. Sax gives wonderful examples of how to deal with all of this & not reinforce negatives. I wish I'd read it way back when, but much of the data wasn't even available for the first edition of this book. (Again, read the latest edition!)
His take on violent video games was interesting, although it seemed a bit alarmist to me. Still, my experience with them & my boys was before they were so immersive. My kids also never had the option to sit inside & play them for too long. They had a lot of outdoor activities & chores. He's spot on about keeping computers out of kids' rooms & in a common area. Both sexes had issues, but especially the girl with social media. We caught on & pulled her computer. There was a huge, positive change in her attitude & grades.
He lists quite a few differences in the subjects of sex & alcohol. One was that MRIs have shown that females use more of the frontal cortex when aroused than men. In men, higher thinking often shuts down, which is in line with Robin Williams' assertion, "God gave man a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time." I had no idea that alcohol had so much more of a bad effect on female brains, either.
He presents homosexuality really well using the example of left-handedness. Less than a century ago, even that was thought to be a preference & teachers tried to force students to write right-handed. He also delves into atypical sexual roles in a great way & shows how moral judgements of such are parochial. One example is the morality of drinking alcohol, moral for most, not for Muslims & Mormons.
Sax doesn't advocate single sex schools in this edition. He specifically says not in the appendix. He does use many as examples, though. Early on, I had the impression he really liked them, but now he seems to think that just some subjects should be sex segregated & his opinions made sense to me.
He makes a great case for why gender does matter, but also discusses the outliers including gender reassignment with common sense approaches. I have no experience to guide me there, but he always stressed loving the child & that's what it's all about....more
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