lionel

As decent as expected

Revisado: 08-08-22

This book gives you good and decent knowledge about one part of parenting. I found good anatomy on subjects like kids' friendship based on recent research, which I wouldn't know without reading it.

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Surprisingly intriguing

Revisado: 03-04-21

When I started to read this book, I had a low expectation. Usually I don't think high of story telling for a book written by a professor.

However, this book is evidently an outlier. Also Adam Grant is an outlier. There are lots of mini stories as evidence used in the book, making the reading experience like movie watching.

For a good movie, people can still digest the subtlety after watching and remember it better. And this book does the same. Does it sell a brand new theoretical framework about rethinking? Probably not. Can you remember the mini stories? Probably not because there are too many. But you are impressed enough to get the core of the book, and will always recollect your feelings after reading.

That is probably good enough -- just remember to think again from time to time. That is the final takeaway from the book, as it states in conclusion.

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Amazingly authentic

Revisado: 02-19-21

What struck me most is the authenticity of the story and all the feelings and sentiments in first person. The story is also remarkable, which is a mind journey through many years. Escaping your family is always hard, but after you learn the essence of humanity to become educated, you will eventually be your true self. That part has resonance in myself as well.

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At the end, it is dog-bite-dog

Revisado: 12-29-20

Kinda tired of books about Trump (this is my third reading in this subject), but what this book attracts me is the author as a real insider and his serving the jail time. I thought he wrote the book in the cell but that is actually not the case.

Well, the storyline is fairly clear and the key points are predictably not new. There are times I felt amused, and from the beginning I was really into it: see how a 39-year-old multi-millionaire makes his life in completely downward spiral after working for Trump, like a special kind of mid-life crisis. However, at the end, I don’t get the bonus and the whole story eventually goes a way of dog-bite-dog, not unexpectedly.

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Actually profound

Revisado: 12-11-20

Before I listened, I was expecting this book to be a little boring while it gives you useful points for real life. Then, at the end, it beats my expectation, where the stories are vivid in the book and sound very convincing and memorable. The author doesn't take a neutral stand and clearly has an opinion, which I like.

It is worth mentioning that I also love the tone of the narrator. It gives good sugarcoating as he sounds a little indifferent --- just match those cold and hard facts that the author wants to let you know.

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A remarkable chronicle with a brilliant mind

Revisado: 11-05-20

This is a non-novel book that you expected to learn a lot after reading, while you may not want to get a textbook with too much rigor. And this book does exactly that, and even more. With the clear storyline and context in each period, I learned a very clear picture in my mind about Asian American, mainly the immigrants in the past 150 years.

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It does make me think ... a lot

Revisado: 09-11-16

Would you listen to In Defense of a Liberal Education again? Why?

Probably. Actually I think the author/narrator already did a good job to present the views and ideas clearly enough. The views may not be very new but the author organizes it well under a modern-era setting with his genuine thoughts and feelings. These still make people like me think about how we should live nowadays, as well as the key values in the modern society.

What other book might you compare In Defense of a Liberal Education to and why?

"Excellent sheep". The author actually mentions this book in his narration. They are similar in terms of expressing views and concerns over the trending of social values. They both come up with great diagnostics. Also, it is worth mentioning that both authors come from Yale University.

Which character – as performed by Fareed Zakaria – was your favorite?

This book is not about characters.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The author has a great vision. At the end of the book, the author envisions the future of education where technology and big data would change its shape: more personalization could be achieved through large-scale data analysis, while the emergence of the Internet would bring high-quality education to more people. It may go off the subject of "defense of a liberal education" (against skill-driven education), and ironically, in order to implement this vision, we seem to need more people with the technical skills. Well, of course, on top of it, someone with good liberal education who has the right values is to lead the technology advancements.

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Trump is what I knew about Trump after the book

Revisado: 09-11-16

Would you listen to Trump Revealed again? Why?

This is a no, but that doesn't mean it's not a good book. The authors of the book did a lot of work for interviewing and fact check, so the original stories are restored well in an attempt to characterize the real person, Donald J. Trump. From that perspective, this is really high-quality journalism material.

In this election year, you can read the book and think how the Trump in the book is compared to the Trump in media. Of course, the book has much more details and appears as a tracking record for who he is today. So, the effect, given that the book is just released a couple of months before the election day, is obviously to solidify the impression on Trump as in mainstream media. Yeah, if you believe it, then you would believe it more.

And that is actually why you would not listen it for one more time. If you hold a stance very different from this person, you don't need to know this person even deeper. The facts are facts and we know it well enough.

They are not good "stories" as in "The Art of the Deal", and we don't appreciate "good stories" here. That is not what this book is meant to be, and the book does its job well.

What other book might you compare Trump Revealed to and why?

Aha, I would give it to "The Art of the Deal" by Donald J. Trump. I know some "good stories" in that book and an apparent contrast could be drawn between these two books, reflecting distinct values from the root.

What about Campbell Scott’s performance did you like?

I rate the performance 5 stars. Well, sometimes I did feel a little dry through the audio description, but that's the style of the book rather than the narrator. I believe the authors intentionally use a tone that has descriptive languages, sounding very objective in the writer's view. So, the narrator did his good job by managing his tone in that way too.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

At a late chapter, I heard that Donald J. Trump has shifted the party seven times. That really impressed me. But again, the tone was very descriptive as it is just telling a fact. Nothing more, nothing less.

Any additional comments?

This book really caught my attention when Donald J. Trump tweeted about it: "boring", "don't buy". That is really good promotion for the book and I am not sure if Mr. Trump actually knows it. I bought this audio book on Day 1. When I finish it, I figure out one thing: how you like/hate Trump is like how you like/hate facts. The facts are usually not what people like to hear. Unlike good stories, they could be really dry, or "boring" as the presidential candidates named, but facts are facts. Further, what the people vote will also reflect whether their belief is based on facts, or good stories.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Entertaining yet reflective

Revisado: 05-18-16

Would you listen to Disrupted again? Why?

Probably not. It is better to be a show than a book. The author expresses what he wanted to mean. I get it and I laughed out. Meanwhile that makes me think about things. That is and it is good enough.

What did you like best about this story?

The view angle. As a person in the tech industry, I ever worked for Silicon Valley start-ups and know what Dan talks about. With his input, I would think I shouldn't take everything for granted but there's actually a reason than just being satirical. You would think deeper to the root cause of everything, to which the book doesn't give you an answer.

Which scene was your favorite?

The first chapters are more descriptive/informational than the latter part. Towards the end of the book, I felt there's more and more "thinking" from the author, which makes it more subjective.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction. It made me laugh, and then think a little more about it.

Any additional comments?

It is really entertaining and I love this a lot. But after reading, a book is a book. You may get a sense that the tech industry is so ridiculous that it would fall down anytime. However, it is staying what it is, at least for today.

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My first 5 star for a personal development book

Revisado: 05-05-16

In the personal development books I have read, most of them lack case study so they failed to convince me in a reasonable way. Also there was one book that has too many cases, but that book did not make ends meet by answering the original question it raised from the beginning. So, I didn't consider such books high until I read this one. Indeed, "New York Times Best Seller" made me try with thinking of "give this genre a last chance".

The author did a really good job in melting case studies into story telling. So by end end of it, you have a clue to recall what you have learnt. This is a relatively scientific way, and the author even reminds you of doing so by reviewing the points in appendix. Yeah, that lets you trust the qualities of this author. I like it.

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