Books moral and immoral

[KCC]

After hearing about Team of Rivals in the Lincoln thread (thanks to aftershocks), I picked it up and have been enjoying it since. How did I ever miss so much history in school? It is fascinating to read about the how some things never change: ownership and slant of the newspapers, Congress's mudslinging, how candidates campaigned and what they did to get elected, some very poor assumptions, etc. At 750 pages, it will take me a while to finish, but I feel good about learning something important.

[ioana]

I started reading The Goal for work, and so far am really enjoying it. Yes, somehow a novel about process-improvement works. Go figure...

[Artemis@BC]

Columbine by Dave Cullen: I saw this title referenced a lot in discussions of the shooting in Newtown. It is an enlightening, but horrifying, read. Everything that the media has told us about Columbine and the shooters is wrong. Or at least not quite right. And we have drawn the wrong conclusions and responded the wrong way.

Can you expand on that? I can't say it's a book that I'm itching to read, but your post intrigues me.

[jeffisjeff]

I started reading The Goal for work, and so far am really enjoying it. Yes, somehow a novel about process-improvement works. Go figure...

[ioana]

It's well-written, honestly. In my line of work, we need to be reminded we should ask 'why are we doing this' once in a while. And even read books that encourage that .

[Evilynn]

I'm happily reading my way through the Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. Post apocalyptic indie series, although he's gotten a deal with a publishing house (and Ridley Scott has optioned it for a movie IIRC), so I'm late to the party.

I'll be pausing Wool 5 in favour of Robert Jordan's (& Brandon Sanderson's) A Memory of Light, the very last book in the Wheel of Time.

[PDilemma]

Can you expand on that? I can't say it's a book that I'm itching to read, but your post intrigues me.

So much that I don't know how to summarize it.

One that really stuck out to me was that the shooters were not particularly bullied. In fact, Klebold had been suspended the year before for bullying another student including vandalizing his locker. Harris had bullied another student, who was a neighbor, extensively resulting in the boy's mother going to the police repeatedly in the two years prior to the shooting. Neither boy was a loner by any means. They had a circle of friends in and out of school and had normal social lives. Klebold, in fact, had gone to the prom the weekend before the shooting with a date in a group of eight kids. Schools responded to this by worrying about the bullied kids and the loners lashing out when Harris and Klebold were neither. The question, perhaps, needs to be what is motivating bullies and how far will they go? The author, with help from experts in the field, makes a reasonable case that Harris was a textbook psychopath while Klebold was depressed and suicidal. Their respective mental states had far more to do with it than their circle of friends or music, video games, movies or parenting. Both sets of parents had done quite a lot to help their kids. The boys had been arrested for breaking into a vehicle a year before the shooting and their parents were involved in the consequences, impressing the judge who assigned them to a pretrial diversion program because their fathers were present for the hearings. It is very clear, however, that the Klebolds did not know how depressed their son was. The Harrises have never spoken publicly so how much they understood is unknown.

The book also shows how many signs of what was being planned were missed by the local police, their friends, teachers, and others. Since Columbine, the FBI and Secret Service have studied school shooters, they concluded that kids engage in what they named "leakage"--in other words they tell people bits and pieces along the way. We need to pay better attention to those leaks. That is something that does seem to be happening since, as many plots have been uncovered before they were carried out. One form of leakage is because some try to recruit others to involvement. Part of Harris's recruiting helped create the false notion that this was non-athletes out to kill athletes--he tried to recruit another friend into the plan and tried to appeal to that student's resentment of "jocks" to get him involved. Harris resented everyone, essentially, and no particular group was targeted. The intention was not to shoot certain students. It was to blow up the entire school and shoot anyone that got out of the building alive. The bombs did not go off so they went in shooting instead. No specific students or staff were targeted. Not "jocks" and not Christians (Cassie Bernall didn't say a word according to the girl who was under the table with her. Another girl told Klebold she believed in God and he walked away without killing her).

There is much much more.

[Spinner]

I don't know why so many bookstores shelve it only in the YA section. It made to to my favourites list.

This is where publishers have specified it be shelved. I agree though, it could and should be put in the adult section as well. Amazing book.

[Artemis@BC]

So much that I don't know how to summarize it. ... There is much much more.

Thanks for that.

I guess because of the type of media I consume myself, I sometimes forget the black-and-white, pop psychology "answers" that tend to be doled out by the populist media, particularly in the aftermath of such events.

Unfortunately, it's the people who "need" to read books like this that never do.

[Jenny]

There have been a lot of articles about this book, many including lists of key myths, so maybe the truth will finally get out into the public consciousness. That, and the renewed interest following Sandy Hook, especially the public discussion about inaccurate reporting and how misinformation spread so quickly through mainstream and social media.

[Artemis@BC]

I finished Ian Rankin's latest last night, Standing in Another Man's Grave. Rebus is back! Yay!!!

I tried to like Fox ... but having Rebus back is like seeing an old friend after a long absence. An old, crotchety, smartass friend who drinks and smokes too much ... but you're very glad to have in your corner.

I did expect to see more interactions between Fox and Rebus, but I expect we'll see more of that in future books. (Now that Rankin has brought Rebus back it will be that much harder to retire him again.)

[Matryeshka]

Let me know how you like Nate Silver's book. I have it, but I keep thinking "Do I really want to read a whole book about stats?" And I can't work up enough enthusiasm to try.

Since you already have it, it's great

In all seriousness, it would be great for an amateur statistician. If you have a passing familiarity with the lingo and concepts already, then it's easier to get into it. It's also helpful if you know some basic economic theory.

There are some chapters that are easier to read than others, depending on your interest. There was a chapter on baseball which made my eyes roll back in my head. I hate math, and I absoultey despise baseball. I didn't think anything could be worse than watching baseball, but reading about the stats of it made me postal. There is more math in baseball than a freshman Algebra class. But there was a chapter on Katrina that I thought was handled well. The chapter on weather forecasting was fascinating. There was a chapter on the housing bubble that was pretty good, but I did a unit on it in both by World Geography and Free Enterprise, so I had a basic background already.

Full disclosure: I haven't finished it yet, but my main critique so far is he makes the same point over and over just using different examples. I might not have read far enough to get more of an overarching theme or maybe he has something else to add, but at the halfway point, I'm ready to put it down and use it more like a "bathroom reader." There are also a lot of interesting facts, but they're all kind of throwaway. It's trivia, and the more I read it, the more trivial I think the whole concept of predicting is.

[Buzz]

Is there any word yet on when George Martin will publish the next instalment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series?

[Prancer]

Since you already have it, it's great .

I have a lot of books I've never gotten around to reading.

I had heard pretty much the same things from other people, which is why I haven't read it. Right now I am reading a lot of stuff about technology and humanity, which is quite enough. Interesting sometimes, but with a lot of to go with it. Nate Silver can wait.

One of the authors I'm reading is named Evgeny Morozov. Every time I see his name, at the mental image I get.

[emason]

Is there any word yet on when George Martin will publish the next instalment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series?

No, a new chapter has just been put up on Martin's website, but there is no release date yet for the book.

[zaphyre14]

I'm finishing up a fluffy mystery set at a Rennaissance Fair at Halloween. Very confusing plot and setting bu, even though I figured out who the guilty party is, I keep reading to find out WHY. I should know tonight.

Someone abandonned a copy of Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" in the break room at work so I saved it and sneaked a peak or two yesterday. Once past the prologue, it caught my interest so I expect I'll be snuggled down with the dog and the book this weekend. My Christmas decorations don't HAVE to come down just yet, right?

[jadingirl]

I finished Ian Rankin's latest last night, Standing in Another Man's Grave. Rebus is back! Yay!!!

I tried to like Fox ... but having Rebus back is like seeing an old friend after a long absence. An old, crotchety, smartass friend who drinks and smokes too much ... but you're very glad to have in your corner.

I did expect to see more interactions between Fox and Rebus, but I expect we'll see more of that in future books. (Now that Rankin has brought Rebus back it will be that much harder to retire him again.)

Yes I finsihed it too and was very happy to have REbus back - like catching up with and old friend. I heard the fans aren't warming up to Fox so Rankin didn't have much choice in the matter but it was a good read.

[ioana]

No, a new chapter has just been put up on Martin's website, but there is no release date yet for the book.

His idea of reassuring fans is to keep repeating the wait won't be "as long" as it turned out to be for Dance with Dragons and Feast for Crows. Somehow, less than 5 (or 6) years doesn't really fit into the reassuring category for me .

[gkelly]

I'm finishing up a fluffy mystery set at a Rennaissance Fair at Halloween. Very confusing plot and setting bu, even though I figured out who the guilty party is, I keep reading to find out WHY. I should know tonight.

Title/author?

[Mozart]

Columbine by Dave Cullen: I saw this title referenced a lot in discussions of the shooting in Newtown. It is an enlightening, but horrifying, read. Everything that the media has told us about Columbine and the shooters is wrong. Or at least not quite right. And we have drawn the wrong conclusions and responded the wrong way.

I read this book too and agree with you it was fascinating but horrifying.

I just finished reading The City of Dark Magic and found it enjoyable because of the musical elements but it is not my genre of choice