The book sat in the pile of other library books my dad had borrowed. Its title was composed of the encouraging words: "THE DUMBEST GENERATION (by Mark Bauerlein)." Intrigued, I lifted the book and opened its cover. Inside, I was greeted by a host of statistic; "this many 12 graders failed this test," "this many college students couldn't name the three branches of government," you get the picture.
So what was the point of this book? It was to encourage more people under 30 to read and be involved in more activities other than TV and video games. A worthy cause to write a book on. But there seems to be a disconnect in the head of the author. Why would some one encourage reading due to the lack thereof, in a book form?
Either the poor guy is part of that dumb generation and doesn't realize it, or he wrote it for the concerned parents of nonreaders? Let's hope its the latter.
5 comments:
hehehe, very funny point.
You do make a point, but also in a sense prove Bauerlein's . . . you didn't read more than the flyleaf. :>)
Check out this review of the book in the Internet Review of Books: http://tinyurl.com/a78xjs
If the link doesn't work, go to . . .
http://internetreviewofbooks.com/
. . . and find the archives. the link to the review under the Ts.
Something tells me you're not dumb. :>) Good post.
(I deleted the first post because of a typo. Ick.)
Man! Ell, you've got to post something soon to help feed my procrastination. If you don't I might actually get something done! (which is a terrible contemplation, by the way).
I say, Kirk, aren't there a lot of blogs out there that might stay thy appetite?
I must confess though, that the very reason I have not yet posted is because I am trying to "get things done," a crime in your sight.
And since you probably don't want to be under bad influence, it might go well with you if you didn't come here any more.
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