What are you currently reading?

[spellbound]

Noir by Christopher Moore

[Crawford Glissadevil]

"The Historian"- Elizabeth Kostova

[Koreabruce]

Just finished "The Case Against Education" by Bryan Caplan, a longtime economics professor at George Mason University (a bit of irony, yes, but he's a geek, and geeks make up the minority who actually love education). This book was very interesting, indeed. He argues that 80% of education amounts to "signaling," i.e. it tells future employers that you're a responsible social conformist who's willing to put yourself through the education mill in order to succeed despite the fact that the majority of college grads forget most of what they learn and don't end up using their university-acquired knowledge in whatever job they eventually end up in. Thus, with the exception of those in critical fields such as engineering, for example, for most people tertiary education is a complete waste of time and money. You're better off going to a trade school when you're in your teens.

I personally loved my time in uni as I was a "non-traditional student" who went full-time when I was in my 30's, so I put myself in the "geek" camp, but his primary concern makes complete sense.

[yamishogun]

Just finished "The Case Against Education" by Bryan Caplan, a longtime economics professor at George Mason University (a bit of irony, yes, but he's a geek, and geeks make up the minority who actually love education). This book was very interesting, indeed. He argues that 80% of education amounts to "signaling," i.e. it tells future employers that you're a responsible social conformist who's willing to put yourself through the education mill in order to succeed despite the fact that the majority of college grads forget most of what they learn and don't end up using their university-acquired knowledge in whatever job they eventually end up in. Thus, with the exception of those in critical fields such as engineering, for example, for most people tertiary education is a complete waste of time and money. You're better off going to a trade school when you're in your teens.

I think Caplan is definitely partly correct but discounts the value of parts of the humanities and the socialization of 25% of the 18 to 22 year old population. I thought Caplan was extreme when he said during an interview that he thought only the top 5% in intelligence should be in college. That correlates to an I.Q. of 125 or over when currently it is around over 110, although of couse many around 100 are currently enrolled.

[Crawford Glissadevil]

Just finished "The Case Against Education" by Bryan Caplan, a longtime economics professor at George Mason University (a bit of irony, yes, but he's a geek, and geeks make up the minority who actually love education). This book was very interesting, indeed. He argues that 80% of education amounts to "signaling," i.e. it tells future employers that you're a responsible social conformist who's willing to put yourself through the education mill in order to succeed despite the fact that the majority of college grads forget most of what they learn and don't end up using their university-acquired knowledge in whatever job they eventually end up in. Thus, with the exception of those in critical fields such as engineering, for example, for most people tertiary education is a complete waste of time and money. You're better off going to a trade school when you're in your teens.

I personally loved my time in uni as I was a "non-traditional student" who went full-time when I was in my 30's, so I put myself in the "geek" camp, but his primary concern makes complete sense.

Sounds like a great read. I'll pick it up once I pay off my 130K of student debt...…………...just kidding.
Do you work in your degree field or a related field?

[Koreabruce]

Sounds like a great read. I'll pick it up once I pay off my 130K of student debt...…………...just kidding.
Do you work in your degree field or a related field?

I'm a rare case (according to Caplan) in that I went to university for 1 semester in 1980, blew it off to go work in factories, then eventually returned full-time when I was in my early 30's once I'd actually seen and done the type of job I wanted, i.e. teaching in Korea. I got my degrees in English Lit & TESL, then immediately got jobs in universities in Korea in my masters degree area... so yes, I do work in my degree field. I will say that I learned precious little about that particular field from my time in university. Most of what I did/do came from on-the-job experience both before and after uni.

[Koreabruce]

I think Caplan is definitely partly correct but discounts the value of parts of the humanities and the socialization of 25% of the 18 to 22 year old population. I thought Caplan was extreme when he said during an interview that he thought only the top 5% in intelligence should be in college. That correlates to an I.Q. of 125 or over when currently it is around over 110, although of couse many around 100 are currently enrolled.

Well, the humanities have been dying for a while now, so there's that, but yes, I find his recommendations regarding who should actually invest in higher education a little too narrow. That said, I'm mostly in agreeance with his point of view. Of course, he also points out that his radical ideas about what should happen would most likely never be adopted by anyone due to the effects of social desireability bias.

[Scott Bails]

Just finished "The Case Against Education" by Bryan Caplan, a longtime economics professor at George Mason University (a bit of irony, yes, but he's a geek, and geeks make up the minority who actually love education). This book was very interesting, indeed. He argues that 80% of education amounts to "signaling," i.e. it tells future employers that you're a responsible social conformist who's willing to put yourself through the education mill in order to succeed despite the fact that the majority of college grads forget most of what they learn and don't end up using their university-acquired knowledge in whatever job they eventually end up in. Thus, with the exception of those in critical fields such as engineering, for example, for most people tertiary education is a complete waste of time and money. You're better off going to a trade school when you're in your teens.

I personally loved my time in uni as I was a "non-traditional student" who went full-time when I was in my 30's, so I put myself in the "geek" camp, but his primary concern makes complete sense.

I haven't read the book. But while I understand the point you're saying that he's trying to make, this doesn't work in the real world. Too many employers want that degree listed on your resume. Too many jobs think that a degree is required.

[Koreabruce]

I haven't read the book. But while I understand the point you're saying that he's trying to make, this doesn't work in the real world. Too many employers want that degree listed on your resume. Too many jobs think that a degree is required.

And Caplan says as much. His point is that university seldom teaches you the requisite skills needed for most jobs you'd be hired for, and you forget most of what you learn rather quickly anyway. It's simply signaling to employers that you're willing to conform to a universally-accepted social norm; namely, the willingness to put yourself through 4 years of what amounts to quite a bit of drudgery (and at great expense if you live somewhere where tertiary education is not free). In short, the 4-year degree signals conformity, so you're more likely to get hired simply for having that certified piece of paper and not for the knowledge that you supposedly acquired in the interim. Of course, the socialization aspect of university is granted, but when considering ALL the costs (4 years' time, quite a lot of money and stress), unless you're an excellent student coming out of high school, you'd be better off doing vocational schooling to learn a trade. It's why there are lots of people with English, philosophy, and other major degrees waiting tables or working as baristas or bartenders. A gargantuan issue is the ungodly amount of money that the U.S. pumps into the education machine on a regular basis - Caplan says it's over a TRILLION dollars, which is several orders of magnitude more than is spent on even the huge U.S. military. Frankly, I didn't know this before reading his book. Obviously, there's considerably more to this whole line of thinking than I'm laying out here, but these are his main ideas. I found the book fascinating despite my not agreeing with certain parts of his argument.

[Scott Bails]

I'm going to cross-post this in the "TV Show" thread. This is a 10-book list of books you might want to read if you're watching the Netflix show, Maniac, starring Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. It sounds surreal and quirky, and this article references Kubrick, as well.

[Yves]

After failing on my second (and final) attempt to finish Moby Dick, I needed pure escapism. Currently reading the Mistborn Trilogy by Sanderson. Pretty good so far!

[spellbound]

Mother American Night, an autobiography by John Perry Barlow

[NogbadTheBad]

Just finished the first Sandman Slim book by Richard Kadrey, about an LA magician seeking revenge on the members of his circle who cast him into Hell for 11 years. Good fun read, full of magic, demons, devils and angels set in modern day LA. About to dive into the second of the series.

[interbellum]

Just started "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch.
It is called a "speculative thriller" and this Dutch translation (with the title remained in English) is nicely made in fully black from the outside.
The author wrote the Wayward Pines Trilogy and based on the fact that I loved the first series I bought this recently.

[SteveSly]

More great rock auto bios out this fall. i just finished Steve Lukather's book which was a very good read and am currently about half way through KK Downing's (Judas Priest) which I am also really enjoying.

[Lopez]

More great rock auto bios out this fall.

One being, I hope, Jorma Kaukonen's Been So Long. I work for the company that published his autobiography, which has just been released. Managed to get a free copy from the periodic pile of freebies the company puts out. I'll be reading that as soon as I finish Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts, an interesting twist on the hackneyed exorcism subgenre.

Speaking of great rock bios, a couple days ago I finished the Led Zeppelin bio, When Giants Walked the Earth. Wow is that good. Big thick tome. Took me a couple of weeks to get through it, but it was worth it. Never liked Zep much after the first album. Looks like I missed out on quite a trove.

[Koreabruce]

Speaking of great rock bios, a couple of days ago I finished the Led Zeppelin bio, When Giants Walked the Earth. Wow is that good? Big thick tome. Took me a couple of weeks to get through it, but it was worth it. Never liked Zep much after the first album. Looks like I missed out on quite a trove.

That's a great book. I have it as an audiobook and have listened to it three times now. Lots of detailed info on the band, the recording of their albums, the tours, the internal rifts, etc. throughout their career, and it covers up to the O2 show in 2007 and slightly beyond. The author, rock journalist Mick Wall, paints a really vidid portrait of LZ and really brings each member to life. He pulls no punches, too. I don't come away from this with much respect for Peter Grant as a person... and who in their right mind would, for that matter? He has Jimmy Page in his sights for a fair degree of criticism as well though there is plenty of acknowledgement of his genius. I think Wall did an especially good job of informing the reader about the influence of Aleister Crowley's life and thought on Jimmy.

[SteveSly]

One being, I hope, Jorma Kaukonen's Been So Long. I work for the company that published his autobiography, which has just been released. Managed to get a free copy from the periodic pile of freebies the company puts out. I'll be reading that as soon as I finish Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts, an interesting twist on the hackneyed exorcism subgenre.

Speaking of great rock bios, a couple days ago I finished the Led Zeppelin bio, When Giants Walked the Earth. Wow is that good. Big thick tome. Took me a couple of weeks to get through it, but it was worth it. Never liked Zep much after the first album. Looks like I missed out on quite a trove.

Thanks for the heads up on both of those. I will have to get them.

[interbellum]

Started a book by Patrick White, called The Tree Of Man, written in 1956.
Years ago (in 1981) I read another big novel of his, called The Vivisector and I remember one of the last words was "Indigo" and when I listen to Peter Gabriel's second album I always have to think of that story.

[Crawford Glissadevil]

To Wake the Dead- Richard Laymon

[Lou]

To Wake the Dead- Richard Laymon

I love Richard Laymon. I probably have 15 of his books.

[Crawford Glissadevil]

I love Richard Laymon. I probably have 15 of his books.

I'm 10 deep into his bibliography. Around a year ago, I bought a box of 20 Laymon novels from a friend. Up till then, the only novel I'd read was "The Traveling Vampire Show".

What's your top 3-5 Laymon titles? If I have one of your titles, I'll read it next.

[interbellum]

Started a book by Patrick White, called The Tree Of Man, written in 1956.
Years ago (in 1981) I read another big novel of his, called The Vivisector and I remember one of the last words was "Indigo" and when I listen to Peter Gabriel's second album I always have to think of that story.

Reading this novel of Patrick White feels a bit like watching a Terrence Malick-movie: very slow, but with beautifully described scenes. Certainly very different from a thriller.

[Crawford Glissadevil]

John Farris- The Fury and the Power

[kid_runningfox]

Michael D'Antonio - The Truth About Trump. Highly illuminating, and not in a good way.