APLG titles. All blurbs are New York Times Book Review, except as noted.
Outliers (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell, 309pp.
Gladwell’s latest book, “Outliers,” is a passionate argument for taking the second version of the story more seriously than we now do. “It is not the brightest who succeed,” Gladwell writes. “Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities — and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.” He doesn’t actually tell his own life story in the book. (But he lurks offstage, since he does describe the arc of his mother’s Jamaican family.) Instead, he tells other success stories, often using the device of back-to-back narratives. He starts with a tale of individual greatness, about the Beatles or the titans of Silicon Valley or the enormously successful generation of New York Jews born in the early 20th century. Then he adds details that undercut that tale.
The Tipping Point (2000) by Malcolm Gladwell, 279pp.
''The Tipping Point,'' by Malcolm Gladwell, is a lively, timely and engaging study of fads. Some of those he writes about fit snugly into the long tradition of crowd behavior: out-of-fashion Hush Puppies resurged into popularity in 1994 and '95; teenagers, despite repeated health warnings, continue to smoke and in the past few years have been doing so in increasing numbers; and in 1998 a book called ''Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'' reached a sales mark of two and a half million copies. Some of the other phenomena analyzed by Gladwell are a bit more unusual, including the decline in crime in New York City that began under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. But all of them can be taken as examples of how unpredictable people can be when they find themselves in the throes of doing what everyone else is doing at the same time.
WHAT THE DOG SAW And Other Adventures (Nov 2009) by Malcolm Gladwell, 410 pp.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many kinds of mustard but only one kind of ketchup? Or what Cézanne did before painting his first significant works in his 50s? Have you hungered for the story behind the Veg-O-Matic, star of the frenetic late-night TV ads? Or wanted to know where Led Zeppelin got the riff in “Whole Lotta Love”? Neither had I, until I began this collection by the indefatigably curious journalist Malcolm Gladwell.
Superfreakonomics (Oct 2009) by Levitt and Stephen Dubner, 288 pp.
“A book with mind-blowing ideas, innovative research and quality investigative journalism, it’s also a story about creativity and what it takes to get the mindset to turn conventional concepts upside down. The authors have found their stride with “SuperFreakonomics.” As good as the first “Freakonomics” was, I found this read much more enjoyable and interesting” (Wall Street Journal), and “A reasonably quick reader could finish it on a coast-to-coast flight, with time left to watch a movie. But the feeling at the end is about the same as the one after reading a Dan Brown novel or eating a bag of Cheetos. You finished the whole thing but didn't walk away feeling particularly proud of yourself. Levitt and Dubner take Gladwellism to its logical extreme: "Superfreakonomics" doesn't really have a broader argument. The authors acknowledge in the opening pages that their book has no unifying theme, beyond the banality that "people respond to incentives." So instead of offering up a bunch of quirky stories of questionable reliability to make an argument that feels coherent, they offer up contrarianism for its own sake. (Washington Post).
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007)by Carol Dweck, 288 pp.
Mindset is "an established set of attitudes held by someone," says the Oxford American Dictionary. It turns out, however, that a set of attitudes needn't be so set, according to Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford. Dweck proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one in which you view your talents and abilities as... well, fixed. In other words, you are who you are, your intelligence and talents are fixed, and your fate is to go through life avoiding challenge and failure. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is one in which you see yourself as fluid, a work in progress. Your fate is one of growth and opportunity. Which mindset do you possess? Dweck provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. The good news, says Dweck, is that mindsets are not set: at any time, you can learn to use a growth mindset to achieve success and happiness. This is a serious, practical book. Dweck's overall assertion that rigid thinking benefits no one, least of all yourself, and that a change of mind is always possible, is welcome.
Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Dec 2009) by Greg Mortenson , 420pp.
As “Stones Into Schools” explains, the institute has accomplished its innovative educational work without any government money. That point is crucial, since it has allowed the Montana-based institute to reach across borders with remarkable impunity. While “Three Cups of Tea” describes how Mr. Mortenson stumbled into his life’s work, which began as the building of schools for girls in remote parts of Pakistan, “Stones Into Schools” takes him into hazier geographical realms. The new book is about his organization’s expansion into Afghanistan — and into one region so inaccessible that one Afghan official isn’t sure that it doesn’t belong to neighboring Tajikistan or China instead.
The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq (2005) by John Crawford, 219pp.
As a deluge of memoirs begin to address the war in Iraq, certain constants emerge. First of all, these could wind up being the most readily chronicled military experiences in history: no other war has made blogging or photography so accessible. Never before has it been so feasible for soldiers to phone home after a tough day in-country. It's also new for them to get stuck leaving voice-mail messages for loved ones who aren't around to take their calls.
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (2006) by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, 300pp.
Regardless of how the war ends, Iraq is not Vietnam. This is true not just militarily and politically but also in the reporting about the two conflicts. For many journalists who covered Vietnam and subsequently wrote books about the war, the experience could be understood only as a hallucinogenic nightmare, and they described it in gonzo prose to match. The reality of Iraq is much more frightening than a bad acid trip, but the writing about this continuing fiasco has been cleareyed and sober, and all the more powerful for it. Rajiv Chandrasekaran's ''Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone'' is a fine example.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman (2009) by Jon Krakauer, 440 pp.
There may be no better example of the tragic aftermath of 9/11 than the story of pro-football-player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman, whose death in the wilds of Afghanistan in 2004 created a scandal of government cover-up. In this masterful work, bestselling adventure writer Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild) renders an intimate portrait of Tillman and brilliantly captures the sadness, madness and heroism of the post-9/11 world. After the attacks, Tillman, a rising football star, eschewed a $3.6 million NFL deal with the Arizona Cardinals to join the military with his brother. From the outset, Pat was elevated by politicians and pundits as a symbol of America’s resolve, a role he detested and shunned, believing his football career afforded him no special status. After a grueling three-year training with the elite Army Rangers, however, instead of fighting terrorists, he found himself first deployed to Iraq--a war he called "an imperial whim." Tillman was later redeployed to Afghanistan, where he was killed in an almost unfathomable incident of friendly fire, which the Army obfuscated for weeks while the government hailed Tillman as a hero. Drawing on interviews with family, fellow soldiers and correspondence, Krakauer’s page-turning account captures every detail--Tillman’s extraordinary character, including the “tragic virtues” that led him to give up a comfortable life and athletic stardom for the army; the harshness of military training and life; the rugged terrain of remote Afghanistan--and, of course, the ravages of war. Most critically, Krakauer, by telling Tillman's personal story and blowing apart the "cynical cover-up" that followed his killing, Krakauer lays bare the best--and worst--of America's War on Terror. (Publisher’s Weekly)
The Glass Castle (2005) by Francine Prose 288pp.
How fitting, then, that the title of Jeannette Walls's chilling memoir, ''The Glass Castle,'' should evoke the architecture of fantasy and magic. The transparent palace that Walls's father often promised to build for his children functions as a metaphor for another fanciful construct, the carefree facade with which two people who were (to say the least) unsuited to raise children camouflaged their struggle to survive in a world for which they were likewise ill equipped.
Churchill (Nov 2009) by Paul Johnson, 192 pp.
In this enthusiastic yet first-rate biography, veteran British historian Johnson (Modern Times) asserts that Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was the 20th century's most valuable figure: No man did more to preserve freedom and democracy.... An ambitious, world-traveling soldier and bestselling author, Churchill was already famous on entering Parliament in 1899 and within a decade was working with Lloyd George to pass the great reforms of 1908–1911. As First Lord of the Admiralty, he performed brilliantly in preparing the navy for WWI, but blame—undeserved according to Johnson—for the catastrophic 1915 Dardanelles invasion drove him from office. Within two years, he was back at the top, where he remained until the Depression. Johnson delivers an adulatory account of Churchill's prescient denunciations of Hitler and heroics during the early days of WWII, and views later missteps less critically than other historians. He concludes that Churchill was a thoroughly likable great man with many irritating flaws but no nasty ones: he lacked malice, avoided grudges, vendettas and blame shifting, and quickly replaced enmity with friendship. Biographers in love with their subjects usually produce mediocre history, but Johnson, always self-assured as well as scholarly, has written another highly opinionated, entertaining work.
All Rise: The Remarkable Journey of Alan Page (2010) by Bill McGrane, 238 pp.
If life really is a journey, Alan Page has taken a memorable trip.He was a standout in football at Central Catholic. He was a star in the sport at Notre Dame. And he played at a Hall of Fame level as one of the members of the devastating "Purple People Eaters" defensive line for the Minnesota Vikings. But, while the new book "All Rise," by Bill McGrane, tells of "The Remarkable Journey of Alan Page," as its subtitle indicates, it is not alone about the journey that Page took from football player to Minnesota Supreme Court justice. It is about many who made the most of their talents, and about providing the opportunity for all. "I call the book 'All Rise,' the warning the bailiff shouts out to awaken the dozers when a judge enters a courtroom. I thought 'All Rise' would be a nice salute for Page's achievement-filled career," the author wrote in his introduction. "Alan frowned when I laid my cards out. 'I don't ....,' he hesitated, frowned, and then shrugged. 'I don't want a story that is just about me.'" So, McGrane spreads throughout his text tributes to other "All Risers," individuals who have made something of themselves. Some are students financially supported by the Page Education Foundation. (The Review)
Decision Points (2010) by George W. Bush, 497 pp.
George W. Bush’s memoir “Decision Points” could well have been titled “The Decider Decides”: it’s an autobiography focused around “the most consequential decisions” of his presidency and his personal life from his decision to give up drinking in 1986 to his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to his decisions regarding the financial crisis of 2008. It is a book that is part spin, part mea culpa, part family scrapbook, part self-conscious effort to (re)shape his political legacy. A dogged work of reminiscence by an author not naturally given to introspection, “Decision Points” lacks the emotional precision and evocative power of his wife Laura’s book. The prose in “Decision Points” is utilitarian, the language staccato and blunt. Mr. Bush’s default mode is regular-guy-politico, and his moods vacillate mainly among the defensive and the diligent — frat boy irreverence, religious certainty and almost willful obliviousness.
An Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) by Michael Pollan, 450 pp.
Life is confusing atop the food chain. For most animals, eating is a simple matter of biological imperative: if you're a koala, you seek out eucalyptus leaves; if you're a prairie vole, you munch on bluegrass and clover. But Homo sapiens, encumbered by a big brain and such inventions as agriculture and industry, faces a bewildering array of choices, from scrambled eggs to Chicken McNuggets, from a bowl of fresh strawberries to the petrochemically complex yellow log of sweet, spongy food product known as the Twinkie. "When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer," Michael Pollan writes in his thoughtful, engrossing new book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," "deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety."
IN DEFENSE OF FOOD ; an Eater’s Manifesto (2008) by Michael Pollan, 244 pp.
Goaded by “the silence of the yams,” Mr. Pollan wants to help old-fashioned edibles fight back. So he has written “In Defense of Food,” a tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential. “We know how to break down a kernel of corn or grain of wheat into its chemical parts, but we have no idea how to put it back together again,” he writes. In this lively, invaluable book — which grew out of an essay Mr. Pollan wrote for The New York Times Magazine, for which he is a contributing writer — he assails some of the most fundamental tenets of nutritionism: that food is simply the sum of its parts, that the effects of individual nutrients can be scientifically measured, that the primary purpose of eating is to maintain health, and that eating requires expert advice. Experts, he says, often do a better job of muddying these issues than of shedding light on them. And it serves their own purposes to create confusion. In his opinion the industry-financed branch of nutritional science is “remarkably reliable in its ability to find a health benefit in whatever food it has been commissioned to study.”
Fast Food Nation (2001) by Eric Schlosser, 356 pp.
In the opening pages of ''Fast Food Nation,'' Eric Schlosser makes a series of observations about McDonald's. The company operates about 28,000 restaurants around the world. It's the nation's biggest buyer of beef, pork and potatoes, and the world's biggest owner of retail property. The company is one of the country's top toy distributors and its largest private operator of playgrounds. Ninety-six percent of American schoolchildren can identify Ronald McDonald. Roughly one of every eight workers in the United States has done time at the chain. The McDonald's brand is the most famous, and the most heavily promoted, on the planet. ''The Golden Arches,'' Schlosser says, ''are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross.'' Of course, McDonald's isn't alone. ''The whole experience of buying fast food,'' he writes, ''has become so routine, so thoroughly unexceptional and mundane, that it is now taken for granted, like brushing your teeth or stopping for a red light.''
Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats (2008) by Steve Ettlinger, 304 pp.
If you want to explore all the unpronounceable and highly suspect ingredients we consume daily, what better starting point could you choose than that classic golden crème-filled cake reputedly capable of withstanding a nuclear holocaust? In Twinkie, Deconstructed, Steve Ettlinger sets out on just such an exploration, with mixed results. "Where does pol-y-sor-bate six-tee come from, Daddy?" This is the question that inspires Ettlinger to research every ingredient listed on the back of the Twinkie wrapper, from enriched flour right on down to Yellow Dye No. 5. Having "always wondered what those strange-sounding ingredients were" as he read food labels "purely out of habit" (though not, apparently, out of any concern about what he was pouring down the throats of his innocent progeny), Ettlinger travels to plants, mines and refineries the world over, where he witnesses all manner of centrifuging, sifting and mixing of the flammable petroleum products that eventually make their way into these snack cakes. (Washington Post)
One Day, All Children...: The Unlikely Triumph Of Teach For America And What I Learned Along The Way (2003) by Wendy Kopp, 208 pp.
"If at the time I had understood the importance of ensuring the necessary funds before moving forward with new ideas, Teach for America would never have been born in the first place," writes Kopp in this impassioned account of how what started 10 years ago as her bold college thesis has become a pioneering educational program . Her plan to create a national teacher corps by recruiting top college graduates to work in the neediest school districts across the U.S. led to the development of a solidly financed nonprofit organization that has placed more than 5,000 teachers, many of whom have achieved extraordinary academic results. But Kopp's primary aim in this frank, winning and well-timed book is to share what she's learned about bringing underprivileged and underperforming students up to par. For example, she argues that just giving them the same resources that privileged students have is not enough; teachers and administrators need to put in the extra time it takes to change these students' attitudes about their own capability for achieving success. When it comes to structuring and managing schools, she asserts that schools should recruit teachers from a variety of disciplines not just those with degrees in education give them the support they need, pay them well and encourage them to push their students to fulfill their highest potential, which is often far beyond any arbitrary measure of achievement. As an outsider, Kopp has brought a fresh approach to the educational process that has proved effective; her inspiring story will challenge schools and professional educators to take notice, while motivating college seniors and recent graduates to join her team. (Publisher’s Weekly)
Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap (2010) by Teach for America, 352 pp. For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data. (Atlantic Monthly)
