Let's Talk About Race: A Review of Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt, PhD

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As we see the resurgence of hate groups and extreme political rhetoric, discussing racism, implicit bias and how they affect us is more important than ever. In this book, Dr. Eberhardt explores a number of place, from the benign to the serious, where implicit bias affects how people respond to other people and to different scenarios.

What is fascinating about this book is how bias affects everyone and in rather predictable ways. Dr. Eberhardt uses stories, such as the undercover black police officer chasing after his own reflection, and the latest social research, some of which she has conducted herself, to show how bias affects people and society. Much of it is incredibly insightful and thought-provoking, but some of it is not. It's hit or miss.

The biggest issue though is that, after sharing all these stories and research, Dr. Eberhardt's concluding chapters don't really offer much in terms of how to address and overcome bias. Mostly, she seems to say that by pointing out bias and discussing it, things can get better. While I don't disagree with her, it doesn't feel like enough when facing the serious issues of bias that we face today. Furthermore, the way she presents her recommendations are easy to miss. They are tucked in and spread around part 3 of this book and not presented in a particularly systematized way. I would've preferred a more direct chapter on ways to address and overcome bias as, after all these stories about how bias is almost inescapable, it would be cathartic to have a section devoted to addressing and overcoming bias directly.

As bias, particularly along racial lines, better known and less socially acceptable, books like this are more important than ever. While it doesn't provide a good amount of advice on how to deal with bias, I would recommend this book for anyone who wishes to spark conversation about implicit bias, especially their own.

View all my reviews

"Don't You Forget About Me": A Review of The Korean War: A History

The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Korean War is often, and rightfully, called "the forgotten war." Bracketed by World War II and the Vietnam War in American history, few Americans know anything about this war in which 3 million Koreans several thousand Americans died. Often what they do know is pretty basic: the North invaded the South, America and its UN allies intervened and pushed the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel all the way to the Yalu River, until communist China intervened and pushed the war back into a stalemate along the 38th parallel. However, in this revisionist work, Bruce Cumings puts more flesh and bones on this otherwise bare bones tale and emphasizes both its importance in American history why it has never really ended, and how it was just as dirty as the war dirty war in Indochina that would succeed it.

For those of you looking for a straight historical narrative of the Korean War, this book probably won't tickle that itch. The first chapter gives the standard story of the war, with a few relatively unknown details thrown in to flesh things out a little, but then hops around different topics for the rest of this book. This allows Mr. Cumings to talk about the darker side of this war that rarely makes it into America's headlines: how the roots of the war go back to, and are much more deeply intertwined with, the Japanese occupation of Korea, not the immediate Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States; how the South Korean regime of dictator Syngman Rhee was just as brutal, and possibly more so, than communist North Korea; how American forces too often stood by as South Korean forces massacred real and suspected communists; and just how the American air war was to the North Korean people and economy. It is a sobering look at a part of our history that is too easily swept under the rug simply because South Korea eventually developed into a vibrant democracy, because we didn't lose the Korean War (though we didn't necessarily win it either), and because the Vietnam War looms so much larger in the American psyche than the Korean War does. Mr. Cumings makes a passionate and nuanced plea for remembering and understanding this war.

And yet, I can't help but feel that, like the war it brings to light, will do nothing more than to create a stalemate in the American reader's mind. While many of the facts and figures Mr. Cumings brings to light may be revelatory, even damning, to many Americans, because this book forgoes a chronological structure, it fails to successfully mesh the unknown dark side of the war with what Americans already do know about the war. A more straightforward analysis of the war, similar to other standard military histories out there, with all of the revelations Mr. Cumings brings to light, would've had a much greater impact. Instead, like many other revisionist histories, this book lists off a litany of wrongs that Americans should feel bad about, forcing the reader to either assume a knee-jerk defensive position or not. For a book that begs for understanding and nuance regarding the war, the baseball bat approach this book takes does not lend itself to such an understanding of the ar.

Despite that, this book is an important work about a forgotten war. While it may be nothing more than a supplemental read to other histories of the war, such as The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam, it is a necessary supplemental read that all American history buffs should read.

View all my reviews

"What a Wonderful World This Could Be": A Review of Red Mars

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mars has had a particular hold on the imagination for centuries, almost as long as the Moon. This book takes our imaginings of Mars to a new level as Mr. Robinson examines what it would be like for the first colonists on Mars, how would their efforts affect Mars, and how Mars would affect the people and Earth too.

Starting with the journey of the first 100 colonists to Mars, this book devotes different parts to different key players in the story in a revolving limited third-person perspective. Because you follow a character's perspective for quite awhile, you are able to gain an appreciation for all of the characters from different angles. Characters you may have liked during the beginning become multi-layered as you see them from another's perspective.

But the really great thing about this book is how Mr. Robinson explores to just how terraforming the planet Mars could work, but how the process of terraforming Mars would change the people involved, even change the planet Earth and its politics ban home. It is an incredibly multi-layered examination of space exploration and colonization that is not found in other books out there.

This is not a perfect book though. For example, it takes Mr. Robinson a long time to really build up some momentum. The first third of the book or so takes a while to set up what will ultimately become the main conflict of the book. But once the stage is set, everything comes together very well. Another problem with this book is some of Mr. Robinson's characterizations of female protagonists, particularly the character Maya. Though she is one of the first hundred, her main function in the story appears to be to bounce between relationships with two of the key male protagonists, John Boone and Frank Chalmers. When she is with one, she wants to be with the other and vice versa. And, aside from acting as some kind of leader in the latter part of the book, her main function appears to be mostly in her sex appeal, not as full character in her own right.

Despite these problems, this book is a great sci-fi novel that paved the way for other similar sci-fi novels to look beyond just simple exploration of the stars and imagine colonizing them as well. Though it takes a long time to build momentum and Mr. Robinson's characterization of his female protagonists is a bit problematic, this is a classic of modern sci-fi that I would recommend to anyone who is interested.

View all my reviews

The Dewey 24 Hour Readathon Live Updates

Hour 24: And that is a wrap!

I made it!  I completed the full 24 hours.  It was a little touch and go at the end there, but I read three books, two of which I completed, for a total of 590 pages read in a 24 hour period.  I am feeling very tired right now, so I'm going to shut everything downwind go to sleep.  Thanks for reading this live blog and be sure to check out all of my other blogs thatI have on here.

Hour 23: It's the final countdown!

Only one hour left in this readathon.  By constantly rocking my chair, I was able to stay awake and get another 30 pages of Biased completed.  I won't be able to finish the book in this hour, but I can definitely finish it later today after I have gotten a good amount of sleep.

Hour 22: Wake up dang it!

I think I fell asleep for a good few minutes at the end of the 22nd hour.  Still, I managed to get another 30 pages of Biased done, but I definitely on't finish the entire book in the less than two hours I have left.  I've got to stay awake.  I'm almost there...

Hour 21: It's getting tougher and tougher

I am having a small problem maintaining focus and alertness as I am entering the last three hours of the readathon, but I managed to read another 36 pages of Biased in this hour.  Things are getting tougher, so I am going to go look for a granola bar, drink some water, walk around a little bit, and then tackle the next hour.

Hour 20: Blueberries and strawberries to the rescue

I made myself a small bowl of blueberries and strawberries to help pep up my energy as I enter the homestretch of the readathon.  It worked for a time, but the effects are starting to wear off pretty quick.  Still, I was able to finish almost 30 more pages of Biased.  Will I be able to finish this book tonight?

Hour 19: Where the rubber meets the road

I got over 30 pages of Biased done in this hour, but my body is tarting to feel tired.  I might need to stretch and get a snack, but I am determined to finish all 24 hours of the readathon.    I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...

Hour 18: A short break

My fiancé needed some love an attention, which I am always happy to give her.  But I was only able to finish 17 more pages of Biased.  Before she went to bed though, my fiancé challenged me to complete all 24 hours of this readathon.  My original plan was to call it quits at midnight, but I can never refuse a dare from my fiancé.  So, I'm now committed to finishing all 24 hours of the readathon.  Mat God have mercy on my soul...

Hour 17: Look who's here!

My reading slowed down a little bit in this hour because my fiancé returned from her time with her family.  I'm so happy that she's here that I only got 17 pages of Biased finished.  In fact, I may be slowing down to a full stop soon. 

Hour 16: Another book bites the dust!

I did it!  I finished reading The Korean War by Bruce Cumings!  I have also just posted my review for it on the blog and on Goodreads.  Check out my blog post for it here.  Now it is on to the next book on my readathon TBR, Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt.

Hour 15: Almost done with another book!

The Korean War by Bruce Cumings is proving to be a much quicker read than I expected.  I am now just 16(!) pages away from finishing this book, which I will do in the next hour.  I'll be sure to post a review for it on my blog and provide a link to it here.  After that, I plan to get some of the book Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt, PhD.  I'm reading this for a discussion on race and bias at my job and I am looking forward to gaining some new insights on the subject.

Hours 13 and 14: The readathon adventure continues...

I took a break during the 13th hour to write my review for Red Mars (link below) and get some dinner.  After refueling, I began reading the second book in my TBR for this readathon, The Korean War by Bruce Cumings.  This is a book that I am reading for another group on Goodreads and were suppose to finish it next week.  It's my hope to finish it tonight and, by the 32 pages I just got finished, I believe I can.

Hour 12: Red Mars is in the bag!

I know I am posting this a little late, but I have just finished reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.  It took me half of the readathon to do it, but it was well worth it.  I gave it four out of five stars and you can read my review by clicking here.  Next up is The Korean War by Bruce Cumings, but I think I will take a short break and make some dinner right now.

Hour 11: Almost there...

I have now completed 95% of Red Mars and I will definitely be able to finish it this hour.  I will be sure to post a separate post on the book on my blog and link it to this live blog when I do.  So close to finished...

Hour 10: Refreshed and ready for the next hour

I was starting to fall asleep in the middle of my book, so I decided to take a 20 minute nap this hour.  I only got 2% more of Red Mars completed, but I am now refreshed and ready for the next hour.  I really think I can finish this book within the next hour or two, so stay tuned for an update on that and my review.

Hour 9: You're getting sleepy...

On the official website for the readathon, it mentioned in this hour to take care of yourself by staying hydrated and even taking naps when necessary.  After eating a healthy lunch, I scoffed at this... until I fell asleep for a hot minute or two there.  Still, I managed to complete another 6%(!) of Red Mars and I am now at 87% completed.  The finish line is within sight, but I think I am going to take a quick cat nap to recharge my batteries in this hour.

Hour 8: Whoops!  Missed an hour.

So, it looks like I forgot to blog the seventh hour.  Just for the sake of time, I'm going to do hours 7 & 8 right now.  I'm now at 81% of Red Mars completed and I can almost taste the end of this book.  I'm starting to get really excited about finishing this book, especially since it is starting to get really interesting.  I also was able to fit in so lunch in this hour.  I was getting peckish in hour 7, eating two Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  But now that I have eaten lunch (Turkey sandwich with a sliced apple, trail mix, and cherry tomatoes), it's onwards to the next hour.

Hour 6:  Sun's out, books out!

The weather out here in SoCal is a cool 75º F, so I decided to get a little sunlight during this hour.  I got another 5% of Red Mars completed, so I am now at 73% finished.  Looking forward to finishing this and other books on my TBR today.

Hour 5: Showered, shaved, and ready for more reading!

My fiancé told me I needed to shower so that I didn't look like a serial killer in my Facebook stories updates, so I got to a good place in Red Mars and did exactly that.  I was still able to finish another 4% of the book though.  What can I do with an unencumbered hour of reading?....

Hour 4: What time is it?

I took a little break to eat some breakfast, but still got 3% more of Red Mars completed.  But I am already starting to lose track of the time.  I'm doing video stories on Facebook and I couldn't even remember what hour I was in.  Am I already begin to crack up?  Got to pull it together.  I am only a sixth of the way through this...

Hour 3 in the bag!

I got another 5% of Red Mars done, putting me at 61% for the entire book.  Things are starting to get really interesting in the efforts to terraform the planet.  I'm starting to feel a little peckish now, so I'm probably going to take a short break to make some breakfast.

Hour 2 Completed

Just finished the second hour of the readathon and things are in full swing.  I finished another 4% of Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.  I am very hopeful that i can finish this book today and maybe even finish The Korean War by Bruce Cumings as well.  Onwards and upwards!

Hour 1 Completed

So, I started things off by reading from the Bible.  My reading was from Colossians 3:12-14: "Put on then, as eGod's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; gas the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." I also got about 2% of Red Mars completed, putting me at 52% for the book.  On to the next hour!

Starting Hour

So, I am trying something completely new by live blogging my experience with the Fall 24 Hour Readathon from Dewey.  I'm going to to try to make my way through four books, Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Korean War by Bruce Cumings, Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt, and An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.  I'll be trying to update every hour or so.  Wish me luck!

Review: How Democracies Die

How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liberal democracy is far more fragile than most Americans think. It is more likely to deteriorate into dictatorship than stay strong. This is a fact that political scientists have been researching for some time now, but with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, books about this topic with a popular audience in mind have been written, bringing that research to a wider audience. This book is one of most clearly written and readable about how democracies can fall.

Using recent historic examples and easy to understand language, charts, and evidence, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how the soft guardrails of democracy, or democratic norms as they are more commonly known, can be eroded over time and how authoritarian figures can rise to completely subvert the system. But what may be most shocking to Americans is how the authors trace America's own erosion of democratic norms since the late 1970s. As has been said by commentators since 2016, Donald Trump is not the cause of the mess we're in, he is just the result of recent decades of norm destruction by both Republicans and Democrats (though, the authors argue, mostly Republicans). They also show how political leaders can make serious mistakes in evaluating potential authoritarian figures or even ally with them for short-term partisan gain, thus damaging the democratic system in general. For a general audience, it may be shocking just how easy it is for democratic governments to fall.

The main reason for this book to exist is because of Donal Trump's 2016 election. Levitsky and Ziblatt show, convincingly in my opinion, how Pres. Trump matches the profile for a potential authoritarian figure and how his unprecedented administration fits the model of authoritarianism in the making. This makes this book an important read for the present moment, but I suspect that their assault on Pres. Trump means that rank and file Republicans, the ones who need this message the most, will be less likely to read it. It also means that, should the country make it out of this long national nightmare, that this book may not have as much staying power in the minds of the public as it should. Democracy is a fragile system and Americans need to constantly remember just how fragile it is. We need books like this, but I fear that, because it is a book very much of its time and place, it will not stick around in the public mind should Pres. Trump be unelected or removed from office.

Despite its potential lack of staying power, this book is an incredibly important read for our current political times. It also includes some important suggestions throughout about how to keep democracy safe that all Americans, Republicans and Democrats, should take to heart. I highly recommend this to anyone who is worried about the state of politics in America today.

View all my reviews

"The Horror": A Review of King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The colonial period in Africa is little known and little understood by Americans today, and yet that history is so pivotal to the creation of international human rights organizations that it should be better known and celebrated. In this meticulous work, Mr. Hochschild tells the devastating story of the Congo Free State, ruled by a tyrant, disguised in the veneer of constitutional monarchy and humanitarianism, with tools of terror that eerily prefigures the genocidal atrocities of the 20th century.

Starting with the story of how King Leopold II of Belgium deftly maneuvered both domestic and foreign politics in order to secure a colony under his direct control, Mr. Hochschild shows how the Congo Free State was always a colony of exploitation, built on the back of brutalized African slaves. The cast of characters is incredibly diverse, with such historical monsters as Henry Morton Stanley and León Rom (the latter of whom was probably one of the inspirations for Joseph Conrad's character, Mr. Kurtz, in Heart of Darkness), and brave men who risked much, including their lives, to tell the world of the atrocities happening in the Congo. Among these heroes include such people as George Washington Williams, E.D. Morel, and Roger Casement. One voice that is missing though, which Mr. Hochschild points out repeatedly, is the voice of the Africans themselves. Too few of their testimonies are recorded for posterity from this period. However, Mr. Hochschild does a tremendous job of trying to bring in their voices whenever he can.

Oftentimes, the atrocities are hard to read about. Africans were enslaved, mutilated, and massacred for a long time and, in spite of the successes of the international protest movement at the turn of the 20th century, several brutal colonial practices continued up to Congo's independence and even beyond. And yet, the international protest movement that Morel and others led would prefigure our conceptions of international human rights in the 20th and 21st centuries. One of the great things about this book is that Mr. Hochschild doesn't sugarcoat the truth, but it does mean that younger readers may want to wait a little bit before tackling such a heavy topic.

One thing I did not like about this book is how the details of how exactly the Congo Free State was initially operated and developed were not there. At one point, it appears that Henry Morton Stanley is setting the colony up in King Leopold's name, and then the next moment all the killings begin. This may be because of my quick reading of the first chapters, but I feel like there are a few steps between "Let's set up a colony" to "Let's enslave and murder everyone" that are missing here.

For anyone interested in world history, the history of colonialism in Africa, or the history of international human rights, this is an essential read. In its explicit condemnation of colonialism, it reminds us that we should never turn our backs on the cries of suffering around the world and work to end human rights abuses wherever they may happen.

View all my reviews