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The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure Paperback – August 20, 2019
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“Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities.” —Jonathan Marks, Commentary
“The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?
First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.
This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateAugust 20, 2019
- Dimensions5.45 x 0.73 x 8.45 inches
- ISBN-100735224919
- ISBN-13978-0735224919
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"So how do you create ‘wiser kids’? Get them off their screens. Argue with them. Get them out of their narrow worlds of family, school and university. Boot them out for a challenging Gap year. It all makes perfect sense . . . the cure seems a glorious revelation." —Philip Delves Broughton, Evening Standard
“The authors, both of whom are liberal academics—almost a tautology on today’s campuses—do a great job of showing how ‘safetyism’ is cramping young minds. Students are treated like candles, which can be extinguished by a puff of wind. The goal of a Socratic education should be to turn them into fires, which thrive on the wind. Instead, they are sheltered from anything that could cause offence . . . Their advice is sound. Their book is excellent. Liberal parents, in particular, should read it.”— Edward Luce, Financial Times
“Their distinctive contribution to the higher-education debate is to meet safetyism on its own, psychological turf . . . Lukianoff and Haidt tell us that safetyism undermines the freedom of inquiry and speech that are indispensable to universities.” —Jonathan Marks, Commentary
“The remedies the book outlines should be considered on college campuses, among parents of current and future students, and by anyone longing for a more sane society.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Perhaps the strongest argument in Haidt and Lukianoff’s favour, though, is this: if you see this issue as being about little more than a few sanctimonious teenagers throwing hissy fits on campus then, yes, it is probably receiving too much attention. But if you accept their premise, that it’s really a story about mental wellbeing and emotional fragility, about a generation acting out because it has been set up to fail by bad parenting and poorly designed institutions, then their message is an urgent one. And it is one that resonates well beyond dusty libraries and manicured quadrangles, into all of our lives.” —Josh Glancy, The Sunday Times (UK)
“Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s new book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, persuasively unpacks the causes of the current predicament on campus – which they link to wider parenting, cultural and political trends . . . The Coddling of the American Mind is both an enlightening but disquieting read. We have a lot of challenges in front of us.” —Quillette, Matthew Lesh
"The authors remind us of some of the campus happenings that, since 2015, have afrighted old liberals like me . . . In the end [despite some objections] I agreed with Messrs Lukianoff and Haidt that protecting kids has gone too far, and that some campus behaviour is absurd and worrying." —David Aaronovitch, The Times (UK)
"The speed with which campus life has changed for the worse is one of the most important points made by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in this important if disturbing book." —Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times
“Rising intolerance for opposing viewpoints is a challenge not only on college campuses but also in our national political discourse. The future of our democracy requires us to understand what’s happening and why—so that we can find solutions and take action. Reading The Coddling of the American Mind is a great place to start.” —Michael Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies, and 108th Mayor of New York City
“Our behavior in society is not immune to the power of rational scientific analysis. Through that lens, prepare yourself for a candid look at the softening of America, and what we can do about it.” —Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director, Hayden Planetarium, and author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
“Lukianoff and Haidt explain the phenomenon of “helicopter parenting” and its dangers—how overprotection amplifies children’s fears and makes them less likely to become adults who can manage their own lives. Children must be challenged and exposed to stressors—including different perspectives—in order to thrive.” —Susan McDaniel, University of Rochester, former President of the American Psychological Association
“An important examination of dismaying social and cultural trends.” —Kirkus Reviews
"I lament the title of this book, as it may alienate the very people who need to engage with its arguments and obscures its message of inclusion. Equal parts mental health manual, parenting guide, sociological study, and political manifesto, it points to a positive way forward of hope, health, and humanism. I only wish I had read it when I was still a professor and a much younger mother." —Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America, and author of Unfinished Business
“A compelling and timely argument against attitudes and practices that, however well-intended, are damaging our universities, harming our children and leaving an entire generation intellectually and emotionally ill-prepared for an ever-more fraught and complex world. A brave and necessary work.” —Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Emeritus Chief Rabbi of UK & Commonwealth; professor, New York University; and author of Not in God’s Name
“No one is omniscient or infallible, so a willingness to evaluate new ideas is vital to understanding our world. Yet universities, which ought to be forums for open debate, are developing a reputation for dogmatism and intolerance. Haidt and Lukianoff, distinguished advocates of freedom of expression, offer a deep analysis of what’s going wrong on campus, and how we can hold universities to their highest ideals.” —Steven Pinker, professor, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now
“This book synthesizes the teachings of many disciplines to illuminate the causes of major problems besetting college students and campuses, including declines in mental health, academic freedom, and collegiality. More importantly, the authors present evidence-based strategies for overcoming these challenges. An engrossing, thought-provoking, and ultimately inspiring read.” —Nadine Strossen, past President, ACLU, and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it with Free Speech, Not Censorship
“How can we as a nation do a better job of preparing young men and women of all backgrounds to be seekers of truth and sustainers of democracy? In The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt provide a rigorous analysis of this perennial challenge as it presents itself today, and offer thoughtful prescriptions for meeting it. What’s more, the book models the virtues and practical wisdom its authors rightly propose as the keys to progress. Lukianoff and Haidt teach young people—and all of us—by example as well as precept.” —Cornel West, professor, Harvard University, and author of Democracy Matters; and Robert P. George, professor, Princeton University, and author of Conscience and Its Enemies
“Objectionable words and ideas, as defined by self-appointed guardians on university campuses, are often treated like violence from sticks and stones. Many students cringe at robust debate; maintaining their ideas of good and evil requires no less than the silencing of disagreeable speakers. Lukianoff and Haidt brilliantly explain how this drift to fragility occurred, how the distinction between words and actions was lost, and what needs to be done. Critical reading to understand the current campus conflicts.” —Mark Yudof, president emeritus, University of California; and professor emeritus, UC Berkeley School of Law
"This book is a much needed guide for how to thrive in a pluralistic society. Lukianoff and Haidt demonstrate how ancient wisdom and modern psychology can encourage more dialogue across lines of difference, build stronger institutions, and make us happier. They provide an antidote to our seemingly intractable divisions, and not a moment too soon.” —Kirsten Powers, author of The Silencing
"We can talk ourselves into believing that some kinds of speech will shatter us, or we can talk ourselves out of that belief. The authors know the science. We are not as fragile as our self-appointed protectors suppose. Read this deeply informed book to become a more resilient soul in a more resilient democracy.” —Philip E. Tetlock, author of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
“In this expansion of their 2015 piece for the Atlantic, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that the urge to insulate oneself against offensive ideas has had deleterious consequences, making students less resilient, more prone to undesirable “emotional reasoning,” less capable of engaging critically with others’ viewpoints, and more likely to cultivate an “us-versus-them” mentality . . . the path they advocate—take on challenges, cultivate resilience, and try to reflect rather than responding based solely on initial emotional responses—deserves consideration.” —Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He obtained his PhD in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and taught at the University of Virginia for sixteen years. His research focuses on moral and political psychology, as described in his book The Righteous Mind. His latest book, The Anxious Generation, is a direct continuation of the themes explored in The Coddling of the American Mind. He writes the After Babel Substack.
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Books (August 20, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0735224919
- ISBN-13 : 978-0735224919
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.45 x 0.73 x 8.45 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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The Coddling of the American Mind REVIEW!
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About the authors
Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and then did post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and in Orissa, India. He taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years before moving to NYU-Stern in 2011. He was named one of the "top global thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine, and one of the "top world thinkers" by Prospect magazine.
His research focuses on morality - its emotional foundations, cultural variations, and developmental course. He began his career studying the negative moral emotions, such as disgust, shame, and vengeance, but then moved on to the understudied positive moral emotions, such as admiration, awe, and moral elevation. He is the co-developer of Moral Foundations theory, and of the research site YourMorals.org. He is a co-founder of HeterodoxAcademy.org, which advocates for viewpoint diversity in higher education. He uses his research to help people understand and respect the moral motives of their enemies (see CivilPolitics.org, and see his TED talks). He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom; The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; and (with Greg Lukianoff) The Coddling of the American Mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting a generation up for failure. For more information see www.JonathanHaidt.com.
Greg Lukianoff is an attorney and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). He is the author of "Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate" and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe, in addition to dozens of other publications. He is a regular columnist for The Huffington Post and has appeared on television shows, including the "CBS Evening News," "Fox & Friends," "The Today Show," CNN's "New Day," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," and "Stossel." He received the 2008 Playboy Foundation Freedom of Expression Award and the 2010 Ford Hall Forum's Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award on behalf of FIRE. He is a graduate of American University and Stanford Law School.
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Customers find the book very worthwhile and productive for raising wiser, happier, and productive humans. They also say the content is packed with great information, well-intentioned, realistic, and thoughtfully presented. Readers describe the writing as clear, balanced, and prescriptive. However, some feel the book is repetitive and boring.
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Customers find the book packed with great information, thought provoking, and accessible. They also say it provides an introduction to cognitive behavioral therapy and offers insight to a variety of different topics. Readers also say the psychology is thorough and well-documented. They say the book thoughtfully engages with serious issues in our society and provides insightful evidence to support various claims.
"...This book thoughtfully and fairly engages with serious issues in our society which will get worse unless we commit to making serious changes...." Read more
"“It is the ultimate mental gymnasium, full of advanced equipment, skilled trainers, and therapists standing by, just in case.”..." Read more
"(As posted in Goodreads closed parentheses)What a comprehensive book! It has four sections, then a conclusion, and then acknowledgments!..." Read more
"...As a person, it provided an accessible introduction to cognitive behavioral therapy, identifying the cognitive distortions that misshape our..." Read more
Customers find the book fascinating, insightful, and an invaluable resource for understanding the dynamic forces in our society. They also say the first three sections are great and the book does a good job showing the intellectual and spiritual aspects of the dynamic society.
"...Overall, an excellent read and well worth your time." Read more
"...Perhaps they are tired of the same old thing.This is a great book and it deserves to be read thoughtfully...." Read more
"...The first three sections were great. When you agree with every point made by the book, you get a certain kind of Identity and familiarity with it...." Read more
"...This may be the most interesting part of the book, rich in social scientific detail and fair-minded in its analysis...." Read more
Customers find the book clearly written, honest, and straightforward. They also appreciate the thoughtful analysis and generous criticism. Readers say the book balances both sides and explains the faults in a fair manner.
"...This allows for thoughtful analysis and generous criticism that actually contributes to the conversation...." Read more
"...This is a great book and it deserves to be read thoughtfully...." Read more
"...Especially for our kids! Maybe . . .Easy read. Writing for general reader, not academics...." Read more
"This book presents a well-written structured argument of how we got to where we are today and a path forward...." Read more
Customers find the themes in the book offer hope and understanding in times that can seem increasingly dreadful. They say it helps people correct their distorted thought patterns and that it starts slow but improves dramatically in part 2. Customers also say the book offers an excellent examination of the dynamics of our day.
"...It's a discipline, but it does help people to correct their distorted thought patterns (such as "NOTHING I do EVER turns out right") and, in the..." Read more
"...The material is thoughtfully presented and ends with hope and positive suggestions to alter disturbing trends and raise wiser kids." Read more
"...I hope everyone reads this book. It offers hope and understanding in times that can seem increasingly dreadful and confusing." Read more
"I LOVED this book. It changed my life in a positive way. Every American needs to read this...." Read more
Customers find the book insightful, useful, and timely. They also say it's well written and a quick read.
"Topic for the day. Book in great condition and speedy delivery. Would buy from this vendor again." Read more
"...It’s very well written and is a super quick read" Read more
"...Goes into the psychosocial breakdown of modern society. Well-paced, full of information but entertaining to read...." Read more
"Insightful, useful, and timely. Happiness Hypothesis and Righteous Mind are must reads as well" Read more
Customers find the book repetitive, boring, and less educational than expected. They also say the terminology is cumbersome and the book doesn't quite deliver.
"...The conclusion does tie it all together, but overall the book is repetitive, and into the conclusion...." Read more
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Part 1: Three Bad Ideas
The authors explore three key bad ideas which seem to be accepted more and more in society:
1) Kids are incredibly fragile.
2) We should always trust our feelings.
3) Life is a battle between good and evil people.
These ideas are bad because they are false. First, children are anti-fragile. They are not like glass which shatters. Rather they are more like a muscle that gets stronger when tested. This is not to say trauma is acceptable any more than we would say an athlete getting injured is getting stronger. The point is that kids are stronger than we think.
Second, the problem with always trusting our emotions is that we can be easily fooled. We lose the ability to have a healthy confrontation because we stop caring about someone’s intent and only care about their impact on our emotional state.
Third, when we boil relationships down to only a conflict between good and evil people we will not be open to compromise or even listening to the other side. If I think my opponent is basically Hitler then I am not going to reason or persuade him. I am going to fight him.
These three key ideas are being taught and reinforced in our education system, entertainment, and social media. The problem with these ideas is not the intent behind them which is protection and the betterment of society. The problem is that these ideas in action make everything worse and actually do the opposite of what they intend: we become more fragile, more angry, more stressed and anxious and so on.
Part 2: Bad Ideas in Action
This section catalogs cases where these bad ideas were put into play. The authors are careful to note that events are not indicative of every college campus. However, they are present in major universities predominantly on the west and east coasts. The authors review some of the riots that occurred in recent years on college campuses as well as the march in Charlottesville. They examine the nature of intimidation and violence that is trending in the news. Then they look at why our society is so prone to witch hunts and the importance of viewpoint diversity.
Part 3: How Did We Get Here?
This section was the most emotionally difficult part of the book for me. The authors dissect how we arrived in this situation focusing upon polarization, anxiety and depression, the decline of play, the rise of safety policies, and the quest for justice. They examine the influences of social media, screens, overprotection, and misguided efforts to achieve social justice. This section is not blasting those who want justice, school administrators, parents or children. The authors are interpreting the data in terms of “six threads” that together help explain how it is we arrived in our present state.
Part 4: Wising Up
Again, the book is not just old men yelling to protect their lawns. The authors present solutions along three lines: families, universities and society. They encourage parents to allow their kids to take calculated risks while resisting the urge to jump in as soon as they struggle. The authors talk about teaching children how to cope with disappointment and pain. They strongly recommend limiting screen time. There are more solutions, but if you want to know them you should read the book!
REFLECTIONS
This book came out at the right time for me as I had just finished reading Haidt’s The Righteous Mind. I also watched the news and was actively wrestling with my own use of social media. Normally it takes me less than five minutes to fall asleep at night (apparently I’m overtired). Yet there was one-night last spring (2018) that I couldn’t go to sleep because I was so angry about things someone I didn’t know said on social media. My mind wouldn’t rest as I rolled over what my response would be to this person and how I would show them how wrong they were. I think it was around 1:00 am that I finalized my brilliant rhetorical salvo I would unleash in the morning. However, when I woke up I knew something was wrong with me. I needed to back off social media. Last fall I even deactivated my Facebook account. I didn’t even self-righteously announce it beforehand! The point is that I was primed to read this book.
This book thoughtfully and fairly engages with serious issues in our society which will get worse unless we commit to making serious changes. I appreciate the authors’ desire not to castigate or vilify anyone. They want to make things better. They assume that the people involved in these issues on the campus are acting in good faith. This allows for thoughtful analysis and generous criticism that actually contributes to the conversation. My only criticism is that the final three chapters which present solutions are very short. Perhaps in time, the authors can present how they and some of the groups they point to as good examples are handling these modern challenges. Also, this book cannot give us the reason why we ought to live this way except for the general improvement of society. For Christians, grace and holiness are central for how we interact with others (or at least they should be!). There are core reasons why we are compelled as followers of Christ to live differently than society. As a holy people (set apart by mercy) we do not participate in that which is abhorrent to God. But as people who have been saved by grace, we explain our hope and commitment to Jesus with gentleness, respect, and love. This is not really a criticism. It is an acknowledgment of the limits of a non-Christian book.
I was challenged by this book to consider how I am raising my children particularly in terms of allowing them to take risks and giving them the room to fail. This book also led me to reflect on how I interact with others. I found myself reading this book saying, “Yeah, the Bible says we should do that…” We know it yet we don’t do it. For example: thinking the best of others or at least giving them the benefit of the doubt. Or how about not be hasty with our words in person and especially online? I seem to remember something about taking every thought captive. A good sign to me that this is a good book is that you leave it hopeful that we can do better or at least how I can do better.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I said in my review of The Righteous Mind that I would likely recommend this book over that one. That turned out to be true. This book does a wonderful job explaining current trends and what can be done about them. Positively there seem to be reasons for hope that things are changing already on the college campus. While this is encouraging, the pressure to unnecessarily self-censor seems to be increasing and there remains a cause for concern. This book is well written, engaging and challenging. It is not a Christian book (I'ma pastor) so don’t expect biblical answers or a biblical worldview. I do recommend this book if you are looking for an insightful cultural analysis of the rise of terms like “trigger warning” and “safe space” and the current state of social discourse in America. Overall, an excellent read and well worth your time.
A few years ago I read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and I loved every second of that book. So when I heard Haidt was involved in writing a book about college students and how we prepare them for the world, I knew I had to read this book.
Let me start off by saying I loved the book. I could not put it down. It was engaging from start to finish. Each chapter of the book stretched my mind until it felt like mush.
There were moments when I thought the authors were geniuses and other moments where I thought the authors were completely nuts. And looking back on it, I realize this is the problem. We want to put everything into categories. Everything has to be either right or wrong. Nothing is allowed to be the middle. You must be for something or against something, there is no room for anything else.
However, we must accept tension. Living within tension is beautiful. It is not easy but it can release our limitations. If we instantly put things into categories before we think through them, then we have already lost. The authors point this out: “Teaching people to see aggression in ambiguous interactions, take more offense, feel more negative emotions, and avoid questioning their interpretations strike us as unwise.”I can love this book even though I think the arguments in the book are at times weak and other times amazing.
I have worked with college students for many years now. I know there are generational differences, but they are all human and college student problems are all the same they just manifest themselves in different ways. This is the challenge we see today. College students can be very resilient when they want to be, the trick is challenging them to be resilient. Colleges are imperfect places and there are a no quick fixes to higher education woes. For example, I worked on a college campus that did not provide on campus medical staff and I was shamed by a parent for it. I said it wouldn’t be a problem, but we would need to raise tuition a few thousand dollars per student just to cover the costs of staff, facilities, and insurance. Let’s just say, the parent did offer to donate any money. (And no, we did not have a climbing wall or lazy river on our campus either)
Again, I loved the book and I loved the message of resiliency but here a few items mentioned in the book that I am not so quick to blame:
Social Media: Are social media and smartphones powerful and dangerous tools that can do major harm? Absolutely. Will television and video games rot my brain? No, it didn’t though I was warned incessantly by my mother and other so-called research. That said, I think technology gets blamed way too quickly for society's problems. It is easy to blame because adults usually don’t understand it (for example, Congress had no idea how Facebook works and the government looked silly trying to blame them for modern problems).
Extreme Anecdotes: A professor gets fired for an unassuming email. Protests erupt on campus because of speaker. A mother gets shamed online for her parenting. These are all real issues, but they are all extreme cases. I have worked long enough to know that what we see covered in media is not the full story. Even in this book, the authors use a throwaway line such as (and I am paraphrasing) “Now we don’t know about other events that led up to…” That’s a pretty big throwaway. It may be a case of an overreacting student, but it could also be the straw that broke the camel’s back on a campus strife with innate racism and sexism. A lot of things change when you raise the temperature just one degree when water can begin to boil.
Risks to Democracy: Yes, if we cannot have civil discourse, democracy suffers, but I think it is a little much to say that “coddled” college students are setting us all up for failure. Young people rarely vote and that is probably because they do not understand a lot of things yet about themselves.
Near the end of the book, there is a line that I think sums up perfectly why college students are recently acting differently: “College students today are living in an extraordinary time...They are identifying injustices that have been well-documented and unsuccessfully addressed for too long.” Perhaps they are tired of the same old thing.
This is a great book and it deserves to be read thoughtfully. I loved the end where it said “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.” I think this is very true. We can’t make the road safe, but we can wear seatbelts and get upset when the same darn pothole hasn’t been fixed.
What a comprehensive book! It has four sections, then a conclusion, and then acknowledgments! I read through the beginning of the acknowledgments.
The first three sections were great. When you agree with every point made by the book, you get a certain kind of Identity and familiarity with it. It points out how much we cuddle our citizens and protect them from knowledge and thought, and fighting for Their beliefs and debating and arguing to actually expand individuals' World knowledge and experience.
Part four I had some disagreement with, mostly because I hate being told what to do :-); although theoretically, It doesn't say what to do, it only gives suggestions. My own opinion is that that section should be reworked.
The conclusion does tie it all together, but overall the book is repetitive, and into the conclusion. Overall, I prefer when the book doesn't spell out conclusions, but it allows the reader to draw them.
But overall, it says some very good things, and the citizens need to stop being pampered.
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Reviewed in Mexico on July 2, 2022
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