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Book report
Jul. 17th, 2010 08:12 amThe latest crop of books I read:
Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods by Dan Chiras and Dave Wann – Just as the subtitle says, this book is chock full of ways to make your suburb – or wherever you live – more friendly and more sustainable. Whether it be hosting community potlucks and book discussion groups, or taking on more ambitious projects like banding together to get good prices on solar panels or finding ways to reduce car pollution, the ideas are in here. The book’s main strength was its wealth of innovative ideas. I really wish they had included more regarding pitfalls and how to surmount them – how do you make this stuff actually happen? What roadblocks have people encountered and what did they do about them? There are some pieces of that in here but they didn’t exactly hand it to you. Still, the book was inspiring and I would like to try out some of their ideas. Grade: B
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Okay, this was a best seller like 8 years ago but I only read it recently because of a book discussion group at work. Gladwell shares some fascinating research and insights into what causes social movements or TV shows or fashion preferences to “tip” and become popular/relevant. I was glad that I didn’t find the same problem in this book that I had with Gladwell’s later work, “Blink”. I liked “Blink” but had trouble seeing it as anything more than interesting examples of things strung together without an overall point. I had so much trouble finding a take-away in “Blink”. But “The Tipping Point” was really good about tying it all together and helping you apply what he shares. I read this book through the lens of someone who would like to make social change, and I got plenty of useful ideas from it. Grade: B
Hey look, books by male authors twice in a row. More books (including more books by dudes) behind the cut!
( Read more... )
Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods by Dan Chiras and Dave Wann – Just as the subtitle says, this book is chock full of ways to make your suburb – or wherever you live – more friendly and more sustainable. Whether it be hosting community potlucks and book discussion groups, or taking on more ambitious projects like banding together to get good prices on solar panels or finding ways to reduce car pollution, the ideas are in here. The book’s main strength was its wealth of innovative ideas. I really wish they had included more regarding pitfalls and how to surmount them – how do you make this stuff actually happen? What roadblocks have people encountered and what did they do about them? There are some pieces of that in here but they didn’t exactly hand it to you. Still, the book was inspiring and I would like to try out some of their ideas. Grade: B
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Okay, this was a best seller like 8 years ago but I only read it recently because of a book discussion group at work. Gladwell shares some fascinating research and insights into what causes social movements or TV shows or fashion preferences to “tip” and become popular/relevant. I was glad that I didn’t find the same problem in this book that I had with Gladwell’s later work, “Blink”. I liked “Blink” but had trouble seeing it as anything more than interesting examples of things strung together without an overall point. I had so much trouble finding a take-away in “Blink”. But “The Tipping Point” was really good about tying it all together and helping you apply what he shares. I read this book through the lens of someone who would like to make social change, and I got plenty of useful ideas from it. Grade: B
Hey look, books by male authors twice in a row. More books (including more books by dudes) behind the cut!
( Read more... )
