Outliers: What does it take to be an expert?

10,000 hours.  According to Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers:  The Story of Success, that’s how many hours of practice it takes to become an expert.  Sigh.  As I started this book I wondered if I would feel deficient.  I don’t think I’ve put 10,000 hours into anything except maybe reading, and I’m far from an expert reader.  Gladwell’s thesis for the book is exploring why some people succeed and some never live up to their potential.  While the 10,000 hour bit is an interesting piece of trivia, it is not the entire point of Gladwell’s book.  What Gladwell does is destroy the idea that anyone is a self-made anything, arguing that geography, culture, economics and plain luck in some cases influence success.  However, underlying most stories of success is hard work.  Very few successes happen overnight, something that should be reassuring to those of us toiling away in the trenches. 

Most of this fairly slim book is intriguing and provocative, but I felt Gladwell’s last chapter or two were weak.  However, Outliers is an interesting read and will challenge your ideas of how a successful person is made.

The Battle for Christmas: Happy Holidays!

Today and tomorrow as we gather with family to celebrate Christmas, admire a beautifully decorated Christmas tree,  possibly attend midnight mass or some other religious service, keep an ear out for sleigh bells and the arrival of Santa Claus and exchange gifts, it will seem as if those Christmas traditions have been with us forever.  Surely Christmas has always been celebrated that way! As  Stephen Nissenbaum points out in The Battle for Christmas, however, Christmas is a relatively recent invention.   The Battle for Christmas traces the development of Christmas primarily in the United States from the 17th-19th centuries and how it changed from a raucous celebration that more closely resembled Halloween with alcohol, feasting, costumes, class inversion and chants demanding tribute or else a trick would be played to the domestic, child-centered holiday it has become.

This was a really interesting book.  Some of what Nissenbaum discusses I already knew…for example that the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas and even banned its celebration due to the raucous way it was celebrated with drinking, carousing, and gluttony.  The early church had placed Christmas in December in order to take advantage of existing pagan celebrations that time of year, hoping to put a Christian spin on those celebrations.  What really surprised me was how much Christmas celebrations reflected the social and economic structures of various times and how efforts to tame Christmas were a response to the  changes in society brought by the Industrial Revolution and the breaking of old bonds of service and social change.  As society changed, especially in the United States where cities were becoming chaotic and busy due to immigration and poor economic conditions, Christmas moved inside to focus on the family. 

Nissenbaum neatly punches holes in many of our beliefs about our cherished Christmas traditions.  The wealthy Knickerbocker set in New York City, dismayed over what was happening in its streets, channeled their anxiety into creating a holiday spent at home.  One member of this set, Clement Clarke Moore, pens “A Visit From Saint Nicholas” and purposefully makes Santa Claus seem less genteel than the saint upon whom he was purportedly based in order to appeal to his anxious audience.  The Christmas tree appears almost out of nowhere to become part of celebrations.

There’s a lot going on in this book.  It is a little shocking to realize that what you hold dear about the holiday is of fairly recent invention and that was possibly cynically created as a way of exerting social control.  The book isn’t mean spirited, though, and it covers a lot of ground.  As Christmas was evolving, so was commerce, and the development of the concept of gifts and buying gifts is fascinating.  We often complain that Christmas has become so commercial and we would like to return to some authentic celebration.  As Nissenbaum points out, people have been complaining about the commercialization of the holiday since they first began exchanging gifts, so this complaint is nothing new.  The way we celebrate Christmas is authentic!   It was also interesting to read about how children’s place in the family changed as Christmas began to take hold.  While most of the book is set in the North, Nissenbaum does explore Christmas in the South and how it impacted slavery.

Nissenbaum’s focus extends only to the late 19th century, and I would have loved to have read more about Christmas in the 20th century and how it has (or hasn’t) changed.  Since most of the book is set in the North, one obtains a very good idea of how Christmas developed there, but I wonder if there are other critical elements contributed from other parts of the United States that were left out.  As always…did New York lead the way?

This book doesn’t change how I feel about Christmas or will celebrate it.  If anything, it affirms how I’ve felt about the holiday: goodwill, feasting, friends and family.  The spirit of Christmas is ingrained in us and quite possibly part of our collective unconscious. Though tamed, it’s like a release valve that allows some of the pressure from the year to escape.  That’s coming perilously close to the ancient, raucous way of celebrating Christmas, but as the year winds down and winter setting in, we humans need that release. And frankly, in 2008, many of the Christmas traditions that were created in the 19th century are almost 200 years old…that may not be ancient, but it certainly makes them old and established.  Legitimate.

Royal Affairs: British Monarchs Behaving Badly

Leslie Carroll’s Royal Affairs:  A Lusty Romp Through the Extramarital Adventures That Rocked the British Monarchy examines infidelity in the British monarchy from Henry II to Charles, Diana and Camilla.  It is fairly exhaustive and no major lover or mistress is left unturned (no small feat when dealing with a monarch like Charles II).  You have the homosexual lovers of Edward II and James I.  You have Henry VIII’s wives recounted in detail.  You even have Queen Victoria and John Brown whose actual sexual relationship is not seriously believed but as an emotional attachment is included.  I was actually a little disappointed that she ended with Charles, Diana and Camilla because why would I care to read about that old tale again, but Carroll made it interesting. 

My biggest quibble with the book is that Carroll’s writing is extremely dry.  Everything is presented factually and objectively, which is great, but it sort of took the oomph out of a book about GASP! infidelity.  It’s not necessarily a fun book, but you will learn quite a bit since she covers about 800 years of history.

Also recommended:

• Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics (Herman)
• Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry and Revenge (Herman)

Bonk: For a good time, call…

Because I am in the last, super-busy weeks of the semester, I thought I could use a little diversion, so I was thrilled when Bonk:  The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex arrived for me at the local public library.  Bonk is Mary Roach’s (Stiff, Spook) latest investigative science book.  As its title suggests, it explores the history as well as current focus of sex research.  Chapters deal with whether Kinsey was really a voyeur, what an orgasm is, clitoral research as well as whether orgasm impacts fertility (using pigs!!!) and various machines, tools and strategies for research through the years.

First of all, it is amusing, yet sad the lengths and obfuscations to which scientists have to go to obtain funding for research that even tangetially touches sex.  As a culture, we are obsessed with sex (having more of it, having it better), yet we remain so squeamish about it.  Roach’s latest book tackles the topic with sensitivity, appreciation and also humor because let’s face it, a lot of the lengths researchers had to go to to research sex as well as their hypothoses and experiments are flat-out funny. I’m thinking in particular of the experiments to see how sperm gets into the uterus. Good stuff. And God bless the people who inseminate pigs and other large animals.  Oh, and let’s not forget the sex toy manufacturer she visits (reminded me of an HBO show I watched years ago–nothing like little old ladies adding hair to a dildo to make you do a doubletake) or the man who implants penis pumps. 

I’m not sure if I enjoyed this book as much as I did Roach’s other two books, but it was very interesting.  If anything, I felt like its structure was a bit harder to follow (seemed a bit meandering at times) and that she seemed to explore the same few topics from various angles.  Roach provides numerous footnotes, which are sometimes irritating in sheer volume but are always relevant and humorous.  Roach is a funny writer, and her approach to the topic is perfect. 

Also recommended:

• Spook (Roach)
• Stiff (Roach)

A Southern Belle Primer: Guess mine was lost in the mail?

A Southern Belle Primer or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma by Maryln Schwartz was a somewhat bizarre book. Though published in 1991, it seemed like a book from a much earlier period.  It deals with a world in which certain silver patterns are expected on a wedding registry and what those patterns say about the bride registering.  Apparently, chicken salad should never contain dark meat.  I am not a fan of dark meat, so I likely would not have committed that egregious faux pas, but good to know.  It deals with a world in which women become festival queens with elaborate costumes and balls to which women must wear dresses of a certain length or else they will receive a sternly-worded letter. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Southerner born and bred.  I was born in Salisbury, North Carolina and grew up in a town a little west of Winston-Salem.  Therefore, I consider myself Southern.  However, as with the other books set in the South that I have posted about this year, I could not find myself, traditions or experiences in this book.  I wondered if it was age.  As I said, this book seemed to refer to an older generation.  But I also have friends who were honest-to-God debutantes complete with white gown, presentation and debutante ball.  I knwo women who followed the tradition of displaying for guests to view to the wedding gifts received by the bride-to-be.  Soooo…maybe the conclusion I should draw is maybe I am not of that world that book sought to illustrate.  And maybe that’s ok.  After all, I don’t even like iced tea.  It was just a little weird to read this book and feel like there is a whole other South of which I am not a part.  And I sort of have to wonder what attitudes and beliefs are being preserved by participating in those traditions. It’s probably just my childhood wish to be Quality, royalty, nobility that is being dented. 

The book was cute and amusing.  It won’t present foes of the South with anything that would change their mind, but if you are an insider or wannabe belle, you’ll find it instructive.

Panic in Level 4: Passionless Tales about Science

Richard Preston’s Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science reads like Preston decided he needed to publish another book and threw together a bunch of old essays.  Preston is well-known for his science writing, including his thriller Hot Zone.

Panic in Level 4 combines essays on the Chudnovskys, genius brothers who built a supercomputer in a cramped NYC apartment in order to calculate pi as far as possible in their quest to discern some sort of pattern; Preston’s old friend Ebola and his visit inside a Level 4 lab and own brush with the virus; the Unicorn tapestries at the Cloisters and the incredibly difficult attempt to render them digitally for preservation; self-cannibals; Craig Venter’s part in decoding the human genome; and insect parasites destroying huge parts of American forests. 

Some of the essays were more interesting than others.  I enjoy a good killer virus tale, so I liked the Level 4 essay, and the Cloisters one was pretty interesting.  I found the Chudnovskys’ attempt to find over a billion digits of Pi confusing and quixotic, but I’ve stated before that I’m no mathematician.  You can’t argue with how well-written the essays are, but they have little relationship to each other and it’s jarring.  The book isn’t cohesive at all, which I guess is acceptable since it’s not a narrative.  I wonder if the book could have been structured differently.  For example, there was a reference to the self-cannibalism disease in the Venter essay, and then the last chapter of the book was about that disease.  It was jarring to me to read the mention of the disease and then discover the full story later on.

The book simply wasn’t what I thought it would be.

Me Talk Pretty One Day: I cried

Yes, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris made me cry.  Granted, they were tears of laughter, but they were tears.  Me Talk Pretty One Day explores Sedaris’ childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, time in college, jobs and eventual move to Paris.  It’s a book about his inability to communicate, and Sedaris has a genius for finding the wit and eccentricity in everyone around him, and it is a gift to the reader.

Most of the book elicitied an occasional guffaw from me.  I don’t know if I expected the entire book to be laugh-out-loud, side-splittingly funny, but some of the essays were sad.  I often wanted Sedaris to get his act together, finding some accounts painful and a little too revealing.  I guess I expected Sedaris’ success to mean that his life was somehow “together” even though I should know better. 

The part I enjoyed the most was Sedaris’ time in France.  I cried with laughter at his experiences trying to learn French and how he and his fellow students tried to explain Easter–in pidgen French– to a Muslim classmate.  Deep, can’t breathe, not nearly as funny to anyone else as it was to me kind of sobs. 

Sedaris, you may not be a native Southerner, and your family may have tried to keep you from becoming one, but to me, you are an honorary one.  You are too eccentric not to be.

Kitchen Confidential: Cooking Exposed

My favorite part of the local Friday news is when the restaurant ratings from area restaurants are revealed in all their disgusting glory.  Who knew that the sanitation grades operated on a 10-point scale?  Therefore, it was no surprise to me that I enjoyed Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.  Kitchen Confidential is Bourdain’s memoir of his life as a chef and as he details his often sordid, drug-filled past, he also reveals the mystery of what goes on in a kitchen (less magic and often gross) as well as how the restaurant industry works.  For example, never, ever eat fish in a restaurant on a Monday. 

Bourdain is caustic and does not suffer fools–including himself.  He is his own worst critic, detailing his many failures, his arrogance, and why he isn’t as successful and respected as other chefs (because of the lure of money:  he was paid too much too soon).  He even goes so far to compare his own career path with a chef whom he admires as what he should have aspired to be, pointing out where their paths and motivations diverged.  His drug use is not sugar coated, and I wondered–as he himself does–how he is still living.  This book was published in 2000, well before he became a fixture on the Travel Channel.

I like Anthony Bourdain.  He is wild and irreverent, yet he loves food.  He respects food. Even though I was dismayed by the lack of attention he paid to his career early on and the drug use, how can you not find something redeeming in someone whose love affair with food began as a child on a visit to France?  Bourdain’s writing is wonderful, and he does a great job of detailing his downward spiral through the many restaurants in which he worked and years of drug use and then his salvation and work at Les Halles.  Only he would never, ever use the word salvation.  He’s far too dry for that.  He’s amazingly self-reflective, a trait I believe is in short supply.  He ends the book stable, mature and sober.

However, the book is not simply a memoir.  It is a sly peek into the restaurant world.  Bourdain wryly tells you the tools you need to make your food look professional as well as how to translate the dirty lingo used in kitchens.  He identifies the types of restaurant owners and how to identify when a restaurant is beginning to fail.  It’s a very gossipy book in the best way.

After reading the book, I wondered if Bourdain was too hard on himself and what he identifies as his many, many failures.  What’s clear is that he is a great cook, a great chef with definite opinions and a basic love of good food.  He has given us a peek into professional kitchens, restaurants and best of all, himself.

The Terror Dream:

I can’t believe how long it has taken me to post about this book.  I’ve had it as a draft for weeks.

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America by Susan Faludi was a GREAT book.  And I rarely say that.  Faludi explores the sexual anxiety that America experienced after 9/11 and why women (feminists) were suddenly either demonized or urged to get married, stay home and make babies.  In other words, women had to fulfill the victim role…in need of being protected and taken care of…or else they were viragos who were responsible for the male failure to protect the nation.  The first part of the book deals with various studies and media representations of women after 9/11…from the lionization of 9/11 widows who said their primary and greatest duty was to take care of their family to supposed baby booms and single women suddenly reconsidering their choosiness and deciding what was most important was finding a nice man with whom to settle down, even if he wasn’t the greatest catch. 

In the second part of the book, Faludi ties back this response to 9/11 to American’s earliest history and traces it from Puritan days to the Revolutionary and even Civil War.  She believes that the anxiety caused by 9/11 can be traced back to anxiety about our inability to deal with the natives.  At first, captivity narratives such as Mary Rowlandson’s were hailed as the appropriate response to the native threat.  Rowlandson is a good, Christian woman who submits to her abduction as God’s will.  However, she can take care of herself and that was ok.  Such narratives were prized. However, as time went on, abduction narratives began to paint men in a negative light (e.g. the husband scramming with the rest of the kids, leaving his wife and newborn to fend for themselves) and women began to act, well, less womanly (e.g. hacking natives to death because they remembered there was a reward for each native killed).  It began to be suspected that somehow women were sapping the vitality of the men and preventing them from being heroic.  As a result, female heroism began to be viewed with suspicion and even marginalized.  Only certain types of female heroism could be acknowledged and rewarded, and it was best if the female wasn’t heroic at all.  This anxiety has become part of our national psyche.

Stunning stuff.  For the most part, I really liked and enjoyed this book.  I found myself appalled by the first half of the book dealing with 9/11 and how women were treated.  How could I not have noticed it?  She cited several articles and essays from Time magazine, and I know I read them because I have been a subscriber to Time for over 10 years.  I’m sure I didn’t bat an eye when I read the essays she cites that are so damning when read in her book.   But I also remember being scared to death after 9/11 even though I live in NC.  I had just turned 24 2 days before 9/11.  And interestingly, I was engaged to be married two months later.  I had never been through anything like 9/11 before.  My life had been free from Cold War anxiety, the stress of Vietnam, etc.  Instead of feeling like I needed to rush to the altar like women were apparently urged to, I wondered if maybe we should postpone our wedding.  It didn’t seem right to have such a conspicuous display a few short months after 9/11. 

I didn’t agree with everything Faludi wrote.  For example, many of the examples she used were from extremely big cities, and I wonder how they played in other areas of the nation.  As well, I don’t think it is so unreasonable that anyone–man or woman–wonder about their lives and to whom they would cling if tragedy occurred.  Of course you are going to wonder who would miss you and how things would be different if you did or didn’t have a spouse.  I think that’s human nature.  I was scared to death and glad I had a fiance on whom I could lean.  I don’t think I would have necessarily have run right out and found the first guy to marry to provide that if I had been single, but it was a scary time, and it would good knowing I had someone. 

I like Faludi’s work and hate that some don’t read her because she is a “feminist.”  While I might not agree with everything she wrote in the book, I am angered enough by my own failure to notice what was being written that I swear to always read with a skeptical and aware mind. 

Also recommended:

• Backlash (Faludi)
• Stiffed:  the Betrayal of the American Man (Faludi)
• The Beauty Myth:  How Images of Beauty are Used Against Woman (Wolf)

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: too mysterious for me

Mysteries of the Middle Ages is Thomas Cahill’s 5th book in his Hinges of History Series.  Cahill is better known for his earlier works How the Irish Saved Civilization (thanks, A, for recommending it to me many, many years ago) and The Gifts of the Jews. 

I’m not sure how to describe this book.  Apparently, the intent of this book is to focus on the rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe (according to the subtitle) but actually focuses on mainstream Catholic thought and how it leads eventually to our own modern thought (according to Publishers Weekly).  The book begins in Alexandria and Ancient Greece and jumps to Europe to introduce us to Abelard, Hildegard, Thomas Aquinas, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Dante.  Throughout the book, Cahill inserts many footnotes in to each chapter to elaborate more on a specific point. 

Well…the book was beautifully designed.  It was illuminated almost in the Medieval style and has beautiful illustrations from many churches and their artwork.  Honestly, that may be the most positive thing I can say about this book.  It was a mess!  The scholarship seems up to par with his previous works, but his argument is lacking if not incoherent.  Instead of supporting a central thesis, each chapter seemed like a completely new focus, which would have been fine if I were reading a collection of essays instead of a supposedly seamlessly-integrated book.  Even worse, his personal biases come through.  One of his footnotes is a somewhat random denunciation of The Da Vinci Code, and another discusses his innocent friend on death row.  Huh? 

I have enjoyed Cahill’s previous works but felt that he started to go downhill with Sailing the Wine Dark Seas, his exploration of Ancient Greece and the book immediately preceding this one.  With 2 or 3 more books to go in the series, I hope the deterioration in quality does not continue.

Recommended:

• How the Irish Saved Civilization (Cahill)
• The Gifts of the Jews (Cahill)
• God:  A Biography (Miles)
• Abraham:  A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths (Feiler)