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Plus, the author's entire hypothesis is laughably wrong. Some cultures simply don't have the intelligence to advance as do others, even if they would have had the resources where they lived. If this sounds racist, so be it. Diamond was wrong, and is laughed at as a hapless liberal by many of his colleagues.
Diamond's thesis was the worst slapdash unsupported cross-eyed badger spit of a guess I've ever read in all my years. Its just page after page of façade and flim flam to support a transparently politically motivated nonsense.
Mind you, I don't think it has to do with intelligence as you say. Different cultural choices inevitably lead to different outcomes. One can be intelligent enough to understand the scientific method, for example, without wishing to embrace it or pursue it. Moreover, cumulative effects from decisions of prior generations in the subsequent intellectual and societal development of a culture play a large part. As recent studies show, IQ of an individual is, in fact, malleable. Cross-generational IQ even more so, especially when the early childhood years, 2-8, benefit from certain practices.
I don't read disappointing books. More accurately, I read 50 pages or so, and if I'm not convinced it's worth spending 8-10 hours of my life on it I throw it back where it came from.
To do this you have to fight the OCD need to discover how it ends. If it started badly it wil end badly.
Better to give another book a chance to entertain you than flush 8-10 hours of your life reading a wasted book.
lol How funny! I had to learn to ignore the sense of duty to finish reading what I don't like.
Well usually the most disappointing novels I read are the one that are supposed to be timeless classics.
That said, the first pick for disappointing novel and also head scratchingly overrated is One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That book is pure self indulgent nonsense, my friends.
I always thought Hemingway was absurdly overrated.
Ditto Sylvia Plath.
The Scarlet Letter is hopelessly dated.
Ditto Jane Eyre.
The Great Gatsby gets more praise than it's worth by at least twice.
Of course some say the same about my all-time favorite novel, The Catcher in The Rye!
I agree whole-heartedly with most of these. Two I can't agree with simply because I haven't read them.
My most recent disappointing read was a novel that just came out called History of Wolves. I read this rave review of it, and saw multiple reviews from people who just loved it. One said it was an incredible YA novel. Well, I don't usually read YA, but the reviews were so glowing that I suggested it to my book club.
Well, this book was most certainly NOT YA, for one thing. But it was horrible. The characters were poorly developed, nothing they did made any sense. There were extraneous plot points and nothing was really resolved. No one in the book club liked it. And none of us could understand the rave reviews.
We had to read A Man Called Ove for our group recently. Absolutely hated that book, and didn't finish it. I wonder what the movie was like.
I also read it for a book club and utterly despised it. Most of the book club didn't care for it, either. I really don't understand all the love for that book.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tassity22
I usually read book reviews on amazon dot com. However, I've realized many books that are 5 stars, have reviews that are schills. That is, fake reviews written by people who want to sell the book or have some vested interest in it's success.
I have found that what is most helpful, on amazon and goodreads, is to look at the one and two star reviews. If I can get a sense of why people who didn't like the book didn't like it, I feel like I have a better sense of whether it will be worthwhile.
Diamond's thesis was the worst slapdash unsupported cross-eyed badger spit of a guess I've ever read in all my years. Its just page after page of façade and flim flam to support a transparently politically motivated nonsense.
Mind you, I don't think it has to do with intelligence as you say. Different cultural choices inevitably lead to different outcomes. One can be intelligent enough to understand the scientific method, for example, without wishing to embrace it or pursue it. Moreover, cumulative effects from decisions of prior generations in the subsequent intellectual and societal development of a culture play a large part. As recent studies show, IQ of an individual is, in fact, malleable. Cross-generational IQ even more so, especially when the early childhood years, 2-8, benefit from certain practices.
But Diamond should be embarrassed of that pap.
"Cross-eyed Badger spit!"
LOL
That's pure gold-- I am gonna use it sometime. And will give you due credit, of course.
Yeah, Diamond was way way off-base, I think. If you watched the documentary on the book you can tell he is simply a huge huge liberal (nothing wrong with that, in and of itself, mind you) who sort of became overly sympathetic and friendly with some of the indigenous peoples he visited and lived with. And when one of them expressed dismay at why his country and people had so very much, and they so very little, well, he recounts this story in the doc, and it's clear he was feeling guilty and was moved by the man's dismay. So I think it colored his allegedly objective hypothesis.
What's still surprising to me is how many of his colleagues panned his idea. In fact I cannot recall ANY of them supporting him. One would think that in academia, which is rife with liberals, you'd find at least a few like-minded colleagues of his.
I have found that what is most helpful, on amazon and goodreads, is to look at the one and two star reviews. If I can get a sense of why people who didn't like the book didn't like it, I feel like I have a better sense of whether it will be worthwhile.
True or become part of a group and get to know what your friends read. You will know which friends you can trust on a book and which ones you cannot.
I do the same when purchasing a product. You have to read the bad and the good reviews.
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