The World's Best Book Summaries
How is technology manipulating you? Is it your fault you have trouble focusing? Johann Hari, the author of Stolen Focus, believes the solutions put forward for the attention crisis aren’t working because they focus on personal responsibility. However, he claims that the tech industry is manipulating you to believe that it’s your fault. Continue reading to learn more about overcoming technology’s manipulation.
Why did Eurasian society thrive throughout history? What set Eurasian farming apart from other areas of the world? According to the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond, a large part of why Eurasia thrived was due to its history of domesticated animals. Diamond claimed that Eurasia had more domesticable farm animals than most parts of the world. Keep reading to learn about the history of domesticated animals on Eurasian farms.
What is Jared Diamond’s theory about food production and farming in Eurasia? What factors created the Fertile Crescent? According to historian, geographer, and ornithologist Jared Diamond, Eurasia developed and thrived thanks to its food production. One huge factor in that food production was the fact Eurasia was located in the Fertile Crescent, a geographical location perfectly suited for domesticable plants. Here’s a closer look at Jared Diamond’s theory on Eurasia and the Fertile Crescent.
What is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond about? What are the key takeaways from the book? Guns, Germs, and Steel is Jared Diamond’s attempt to determine why societies historically took different paths. It was named one of TIME’s best non-fiction books of all time, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, and turned into a PBS documentary released in 2005. Keep reading for an overview of Diamond’s award-winning book.
Why is gender-disaggregated data important? How are women discriminated against at a government level? Gender-disaggregated data is simply data that is separated by gender, but it’s extremely important. If the government collects gender-specific data, we can improve women’s standing in society. Check out the importance of gender-disaggregated data below.
How does Invisible Women define data bias? How does data bias hurt women on a healthcare and safety level? As explained in Invisible Women, data bias occurs when socio-cultural prejudices affect systematic processes. The author, Caroline Criado Perez, specifically talks about how a lack of information about the female experience affects women’s health, safety, and economic standing. Continue reading to learn more about gender data bias.
What is Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez about? What should you take away from the book? In Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez explains that most humans operate on a male-as-default mindset. This mindset leads to and is reinforced by a gender data gap—a lack of information about the female experience—that ultimately harms women’s health, safety, and economic standing. Keep reading for a brief overview of Invisible Women.
Is abstracted empiricism a constructive approach to social science? What are its flaws? In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills contends that not all ways of doing social science are equal. He believes that his way (sociological imagination) is the only one that serves the main purpose of social science—preserving freedom. He offers a critique of other approaches, especially abstracted empiricism, asserting that they fail to protect a free and open society in the way sociological imagination does. Keep reading for Mills’s evaluation of abstracted empiricism.
Why don’t car companies use female crash-test dummies? Why are women more likely to be injured in car crashes? In Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez says that the lack of female crash-test dummies used by car companies is affecting women’s safety. She attests that cars aren’t designed to protect women’s bodies—only men’s. Check out why female dummies should be used in regulatory car crash tests.
What is grand theory in sociology? How well does it uphold the main purpose of social science? In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills contends that not all approaches to social science are equal. He believes that his approach (sociological imagination) is the only way to preserve freedom. He offers a critique of other approaches, including grand theory, asserting that they fail to protect a free and open society in the way sociological imagination does. Let’s take a look at what grand theory is—and how Mills thinks it fails to deliver.