Epstein's Range, Karlgaard's Late Bloomers, and Boaler's Limitless Mind

One of our faculty members is a close, personal friend of David Epstein (The Sports Gene) and this teacher is extremely enthusiastic (as he should be) about Epstein’s latest non-fiction work: RANGE: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Epstein is an engaging writer who begins by contrasting the stories of Tiger and Roger – showing that Woods (the early specialist) and Federer (a generalist) achieved dominance in their sports through different philosophies.  Epstein continues by citing examples and academic studies involving music, mathematics, education, science and medicine – essentially giving his readers some broad and general exposure to his thesis. He describes participants of one study who “were perfectly capable of learning from experience, but failed at learning without experience. And [yet] that is what a rapidly changing, wicked world demands – conceptual reasoning skills that can connect new ideas and work across contexts.” Epstein repeatedly points out that frustration actually means that you are learning. RANGE has been favorably reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Atlantic. I highly recommend that you add it to your reading list. Epstein has made me want to do some more exploring of the concepts (like Fermi thinking) and resources (like University of Washington’s course on Calling Bullshit) that he mentions, particularly in regards to the application for our students’ Junior Theme research. If you are looking for more ideas to stretch your mind, consider also the recent list of summer reads for educators recommended on Edutopia.

“The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement” is the subtitle for LATE BLOOMERS by Rich Karlgaard which one of our administrators has been strongly recommending. There is a great deal to discover in Karlgaard’s writing and beyond; he shares numerous anecdotes and devotes roughly a quarter of the text to notes and sources. He begins by looking at the potential consequences of how we measure and focus on achievement, especially for young people: “when so many people believe they are inferior based on a few narrow measurements made when they were children, society as a whole suffers.” Karlgaard then shifts to a chapter on the strengths of Late Bloomers: curiosity, compassion, resilience, equanimity, insight, and wisdom are all illustrated with numerous inspirational examples. One memorable quote comes from a global consultant named Don Peppers who says, “Not being curious is not only intellectually lazy, but it shows a willful contempt for the facts. If you don’t want to know the truth about something, then how moral can you claim to be?” Karlgaard also mused about the idea that almost everyone seemed to self-identify as a late bloomer and that perhaps some of the current, painful political discourse is a result of people feeling “unacknowledged, unappreciated and disrespected.” He encourages employers to take advantage of that potential, parents to “enjoy your children as they are” and for educators to better meet the needs of late bloomers. This past May, Karlgaard wrote a feature essay (adapted from his book) called “It’s Never Too Late to Start a Brilliant Career” in The Wall Street Journal where he cited many examples including the recently deceased Toni Morrison who “published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, at 39 and won a Pulitzer Prize for Beloved at 56 and the Nobel Prize in Literature five years later.” Reading LATE BLOOMERS may cause you to re-evaluate the path to long-term happiness for yourself and others.  

LIMITLESS MIND by Jo Boaler encourages us to “Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers.” Boaler is the Nomellini-Olivier Professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford University, and the faculty director of youcubed.  As you can see from that website, much of her work has focused on mathematics and students in the K-8 range. However, the soon to be released LIMITLESS MIND has application across ages. Boaler first debunks damaging assumptions that limit confidence and willingness to try new things. Using a fairly academic tone, she discusses neuroplasticity and then outlines six keys that deal with our growth journey, the value of mistakes, relationships between beliefs and health, multiple ways of learning, importance of creativity and flexibility over speed, and importance of connections. I especially liked this last section where she discusses how “part of the reason students give up on learning is because they find it difficult and think they are alone in their struggle.” Boaler stresses the importance of working together so that student realize that “for everyone learning is a process and that obstacles are common.” Just as I encourage my student researchers to be sure they use a variety of sources (who will they invite to that metaphorical dinner party?), Boaler also notes that “connecting with another person’s idea both requires and develops a higher level of understanding.” Her examples for schools to encourage community involvement are practical, including a profile of Shane Feldman, founder of Count Me In movement. LIMITLESS MIND is filled with inspirational stories and is worth a look as we continue to grow and “think differently.” As Boaler says, “we are all learning all the time.” 

The War for Kindness by Jamil Zaki

THE WAR FOR KINDNESS is written by Jamil Zaki, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He explores “building empathy in a fractured world,” as also described in his interview with The Washington Post. In THE WAR FOR KINDNESS Zaki begins by discussing his own parents’ divorce and says, “that two people’s experiences could differ so drastically, yet both be true and deep, is maybe the most important lesson I’ve ever learned.” He then describes the different ways we respond with empathy, given that the “diameter of our concern … [now] encompasses the planet.” I was struck by his comments about the recent shift to a majority of people living in cities and in shrinking households so that “we see more people than ever before, but know fewer of them.” Employing a conversational tone and using many examples (ranging from convicts participating in a program called Changing Lives Through Literature to hospital employees avoiding burnout), Zaki continues with some of his subsequent chapters discussing The Stories We Tell, Caring Too Much and The Future of Empathy. There is an extensive website which accompanies THE WAR FOR KINDNESS. Videos there address five challenges: reverse the golden rule; spend kindly; disagree better; employ kind tech; and be a culture builder. 

Just under a third of the text is devoted to appendices, notes and index.  It is worth mentioning that one appendix deals with “Evaluating the Evidence” and includes a summary of each of the over four dozen claims made in the book, plus a rating on the claim’s strength and (for those with weaker ratings) a brief description of that reasoning. I found this section  - also available online - to be an extremely helpful summary; our Psych teachers and students will no doubt find it fascinating and inspirational to their research. In fact, I would suggest considering this title as a One School/One Book selection at the high school or college level with the option of including lesson plans like the related one posted by The New York Times or from Teaching Tolerance.  THE WAR FOR KINDNESS is excerpted in NPR’s recent review which praises Zaki’s compilation of research, and concludes: “To build empathy, one must have courage, engage in self-reflection, and harness the will to venture beyond isolation to the great unknown that is others.”  Huge, but worthwhile tasks for adolescents and the rest of us.

New non-fiction titles

Here are several non-fiction books which will shortly appear on our shelves:

I am personally most intrigued by REINVENTING CAPITALISM IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger. I have had several students this year who read his earlier work on Big Data and others who are writing Junior Themes that deal with neo-liberalism and the economy. No doubt, they would all be interested in the predictions that Oxford professor Mayer-Schonberger and his co-author, Thomas Ramge of the Economist, make regarding the potential scenario where cash, banks, and big companies become obsolete.  As noted in its description, this book highlights “small groups and individual actors who make markets instead of making things: think Uber instead of Ford, or Airbnb instead of Hyatt.”   They argue that the impact on the labor market will be as disruptive as the industrial revolution, resulting in an on-going need for significant re-training of workers, increased dependence on artificial intelligence, and exploration of policies such as universal basic income. Thought-provoking and a bit scary. 

 

Another business-related title, HOW TO TURN DOWN A BILLION DOLLARS: THE SNAPCHAT STORY by Billy Gallagher, begins with stories of frat life at Stanford (not unlike the fictionalized Frat Girl by fellow Stanford alum, Kelly Roache). Livin’ hard, playin’ hard and taking risks seems a theme for Gallagher and his friends, Snapchat founders Reggie Brown, Bobby Murphy and current CEO Evan Spiegel.  The attitude of privilege, arrogance, and entitlement is pervasive. This book would likely give our students some insights into the seeds of a rather toxic Silicon Valley culture about which they have frequently heard. Booklist says, “Gallagher spends as much time on the excesses, lawsuits, and high employee turnover at Snapchat as he does on the technology.” In fact, parent company Snap has just this week confirmed layoffs for 120 engineers after a significant redesign – that aspect may appeal to some of our entrepreneurial students who often look for examples of overcoming adversity and beginning anew. They, too, may even ultimately agree with the recent New York Times article, “Silicon Valley is Over, Says Silicon Valley” which extols the opportunities and benefits on investing in the Midwest.

Even though she, too, graduated from a prestigious institution (Cambridge University), a far different start in life was had by Tara Westover as described in her new memoir titled EDUCATED. This book was a February Library Reads selection where it is described as follows: “Westover recounts her childhood growing up in a strict Mormon family, ruled by an erratic father, and living off the grid in Idaho. Westover compellingly sketches her years growing up, her relationships with siblings, encounters in the town nearby, and the events that eventually drove her to leave and pursue formal education” first at Brigham Young and later at Cambridge.  EDUCATED is a difficult read in parts, especially due to her family circumstances with a paranoid, mentally ill father, a mother who suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident and a violent, abusive older brother.  Additional reviews can be found in The Economist (“a riveting memoir of a brutal upbringing”) and The Wall Street Journal (where Susan Wise Bauer asks, “why some learners latch onto knowledge thirstily while others don't”). Westover’s EDUCATED has been compared to The Glass Castle so do look for this new memoir if you liked Jeannette Wall’s work.