What are you reading these days?

I recently finished The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice, by Fredrik deBoer. His basic argument is that kids' academic potentials are unequal and we can't change that. Expecting teachers to fix it puts impossible expectations on them, so that many schools seem to be failing unless they cook the books in some way. The schools that have the best students are mostly being picky about who they take or are serving a community where the kids already start out better.

He also writes about the broader consequences for society that come from expecting everyone to be college-bound and from pretending that being academically successful is mostly virtuous, rather than largely a matter of good luck. This has a side effect of unrealistic pressure and undeserved blame on poor students, who are often trying hard to achieve modest results. In this way, the meritocracy is deeply cruel. DeBoer is an experienced teacher and brings evidence to bear based both on his own experiences and by quoting from other books on education that he likes.

Although I'm no expert in this area, I think the central argument is very plausible. One metaphor I like is comparing it to unrealistic expectations that you can marry someone and fundamentally change them, resulting in disappointment. Relationships can change, people do learn things, and there are specific problems you can work to fix. But expecting to remake someone into a different person is unrealistic. Although with kids you're starting younger, there are similar problems with expecting that teachers could make everyone into academically talented students who would do well in college, if only we fixed the schools.

This is complicated by two side points. DeBoer believes that kids differ in academic talent partly due to a large genetic component, in much the same way that height has a large genetic component. He's not a scientist and neither am I, but he quotes and references scientific results that I believe are solid, by scientists I respect. (Erik Turkheimer's group in particular.)

DeBoer is also a committed Marxist, and I am not. This is okay, fine really. It makes things interesting. He mostly talks about it in passing, so if that's not your belief system, you can treat it like someone who has a different religion than you, but isn't really pushing it. He still has interesting things to say. He does have a chapter at the end where he describes what he thinks it would be like to live under a socialist system. I thought it was a good attempt, but frustratingly vague about how decisions get made, which is the part I'm most interested in. Since I don't know many Marxists, I think he's probably the Marxist that I'd most like to talk to about this, if he were up for it, but I don't think he is. (DeBoer no longer uses Twitter because it wasn't good for his mental health.)

A minor problem with this book, for a general audience, is that it seems to be partly addressed towards his progressive critics. DeBoer knows that he has unorthodox opinions and is worried about being misunderstood. He's clear about supporting public schools and giving no ground to racists. Since he is often vague about the other side of the debate, not referencing or quoting anyone in particular, there is sometimes the effect of listening to half a phone call. At times, DeBoer seems to be more concerned with clarifying his positions on political issues than in digging up interesting evidence that's more relevant to the book's main argument. (He likes universal basic income and universal health care, though they don't go far enough for him.)

Still, this was an interesting read and I hope the book becomes more well-known so I can read responses from people who have relevant expertise (like other teachers).

I am on a binge recently, having read like 8 books in the past 3 weeks. I just found the time to read more and I've been loving it.

I'm currently reading Plunder of the Commons by Guy Standing. It's extremely good so far, and presents an very persuasive argument for revitalizing our concept of "the commons" and for sharing the social wealth generated therein. Notably, he advocates for systems of managing the commons that stand in opposition to both the market and the government, leading to a mix of both formal and informal protections for those things we hold in common. It also starts with a historical look at what "the commons" has even meant through the ages, and how it originally encompassed much more than just "open space accessible to the public for leisure". While it focuses on the UK when presenting evidence, the general arguments are applicable more broadly.

I am currently reading Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women by Marianne Monson. It's a collection of mini biographies of frontier women (title is pretty spot on lol). I've read through 3 of them so far and it's a great wealth of ideas and information. Monson also, at the end of each chapter/biography, has sources and further readings on each woman so you can check out more in depth work. I'm enjoying the book a lot and am hoping to get further reading material out of it for research.

I actually just finished the True Grit novel as well and am on a western genre binge and am hoping to get a copy of Blood Meridian soon. I didn't ever have the thought that Westerns might be my thing but only because I never actively persued the genre. Which is my own folly, but I'm really enjoying what I've read so far!

I'm currently reading Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. I really am enjoying the sort of anarchic political vision he's putting forward in the book. It kind of reminds me of solarpunk. It's clearly somewhat preachy and utopian, but he's not afraid to portray the dark sides as well. At the same time that it explores a sort of left-libertarian/anarchic vision, it's an exploration of transhumanism and LGBTQ+ characters. It's also honestly pretty graphic (both violence and sex).

All in all, a book with mediocre writing, interesting political ideas, fun characters, and an aggressive plot. I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5, but am thoroughly enjoying reading it.

Black Sun Rising C.S Freidman. Fascinating world, a space colony that just survived on a world with "magic" and hostile natives. The colony survived, just, went through a technological dark age and is now in a gunpowdery, steel, gothic age. The story and characters were a let down, the former dragging the latter being whiney.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I haven't read this since i started reading a decade ago. A great book still.

The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card. A collection of stories from OSCs early writing. I'm a sucker for anything immortality/life extension and this used life extension as an interesting jumping point.

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun. I loved this book. A very cozy book about a man settling in rural Norway and his life there. I learned afterwards that Hamsun was a nazi sympathiser and apparently Hitler was a fan the book.

Silence by Endo Shusaku. I'll probably be finished with this book tomorrow but so far (60%) its a very dry book but still readable.

I just finished Normal People by Sally Rooney, which was an interesting and confusing coming of age story.
I'm now reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and getting increasingly more annoyed with the protagonist and the author. It's pretty easy to write larger-than-life characters who are better, smarter, stronger and awesomer than everyone else, but to have them repeatedly flaunt this every single page is exhausting. I get it. You're amazing. Now can we stop with the masturbatory fiesta and focus on the story? Would also be nice to see well-rounded complex characters in fantasy books every now and again.
Fiction and fantasy are not usually my cup of tea. I'm looking for good hardcore sci-fi books to sink my teeth in, so recommend away. I had my eye set on Children of Time but having second thoughts after the reviews say it's really depressing. I'm also looking at Bowl of Heaven because Niven - The Mote in God's Eye is one of my all-time-favorite books.
Any recommendations?

I also read Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 3 Volume 1. In Part 3, the protagonist enters noble society with the support of a powerful but capricious leader and his allies. As usual, she has a lot to learn in a hurry. I thought it was a bit slow to get going, with lots of new characters and grand magic ceremonies that I don't care about that much, but it has some funny moments, centering around fundraising among the elite for her growing book publishing industry, for the benefit of charity since it is being built on orphan labor. All the work on the Italian restaurant finally pays off with a grand opening, and the author spends quite a bit of time describing the unusual (for them) dishes and everybody's reactions. There are funny money-making schemes, schemes to force people into doing things that are good for them but they don't want to do, and schemes to frustrate and embarrass close allies as revenge for previous schemes. Often things are done for more than one reason. It's all fun and games until someone starts a blood feud.

It has been made clear in previous volumes that this society is actually horrifically cruel, staggeringly unequal, and otherwise messed up, so I am hoping that eventually she starts a revolution or something, but that's an increasingly faint hope, since the author seems to enjoy writing about noble society too much. But who knows, she clearly loves surprises and intricate plotting, with things set up multiple volumes in advance.

Looks like I'm going to be reading this one for a while. The English translation of the next volume comes out in October.

I finally read The Princess Bride. If you like the movie, you'll really like the book. It's funny and unlike anything I've ever read.

There is even one scene that was cut by the editor that you can get by sending a postcard to the publisher.

All in all -- it far exceeded my expectations.

I'm on the hunt for something new. I really wanted to get into the Slough House series from Mick Herron, but it just isn't drawing me in. I read the first book twice because I was certain I had missed something.

I'm re-reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (In French of course, but that's of no relevance really).

I haven't read Jules Verne since I was a young teen, so it's kind of nice to get back into them!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I started reading some more of Ted Chiang's short stories. This time Stories of Your Life. I just finished Tower of Babylon and loved it! I find it really clever the way he'll take some Judeo-Christian myth and make it real. And it seems like depending on the reader, you could feel it either affirms the original myth or shatters it. The other story like this that comes to mind is Omphalos which has early 20th century archeologists and astronomers discovering that young-earth creationism is true, but not in exactly the way they thought.