Tag: Attitudes

Tom Nichols – The Death of Expertise | Review

Title: The Death of Expertise

Author: Tom Nichols

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 254

Rating: 4.5/5

This is easily one of the best non-fiction books that I’ve picked up this year and so I was a very happy bunny. It’s also pretty cool because it was recommended to me by one of my clients, to the point at which he paid for me to purchase a copy of it.

It’s basically all about the way in which everyone thinks they’re an expert today. We overrule doctors because we can Google our symptoms, but we also overrule experts in their different fields instead of taking their hard earned advice.

This is a huge problem, of course, but it’s even more of a problem in the midst of a global pandemic when people are convincing themselves that there’s some sort of secret conspiracy to deprive us all of our liberty by getting us to wear masks in shops. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I found this book more enjoyable than I normally would have because of the time in which I read it.

Arguably my favourite example in the whole book was that of American attitudes towards military action in Ukraine. It turns out that the less people knew about the Ukraine, the more likely they were to demand military action. Those who thought it was in Australia or South America were those who were most likely to support military involvement. What a world, man.

Learn more about The Death of Expertise.


Anna Sewell – Black Beauty | Review

Title: Black Beauty

Author: Anna Sewell

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 230

Rating 3.5/5

 

 

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t exactly fall in love with this book, but that’s pretty much a personal preference thing rather than because there was anything wrong with the novel. I can actually put my finger on exactly what the problem was: I just don’t like it when stories are narrated by horses, which is why I wasn’t a particular fan of War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, either.

Still, this was the last book that I had to read in a box set of children’s classics that I own and so now that it’s done, at least I can tick it off. And actually, I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to, and I can totally see why it’s considered a classic – even if being told a story by a horse made it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief.

I also thought it was interesting to read this from an animal rights perspective, although I’d argue that these days, we rarely “need” to use horses at all. Sewell did a great job of showing the different attitudes that different types of people have towards animals, including by showing that some people can be assholes. All in all, I guess it was pretty good.

 

 

Click here to buy Black Beauty.