Nose in a Book

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

After reading The Tipping Point and Blink I was very excited when I got an email from the library letting me know that it was my turn to read this newest of Gladwell’s books.  This one is about outliers, an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data. Using examples and case studies, Gladwell argues that successful people are more than just smart.  He claims that birthdate, opportunity, cultural background and ethnicity have a lot to do with what a person accomplishes in their lifetime.

A lot of what Gladwell reveals is surprising.  He begins the book in a discussion of the birthdates of hockey players in the WHL (Western Hockey League) and points out that a huge majority of hockey players are born in the first half of the year.  There is a completely reasonable explanation for this.  Want to know what it is? Read the book.

Gladwell also goes on to introduce the 10 000 hour rule and explain why so many successful computer guru’s are born between 1953 and 1957.  (My dad is a successful  programmer, and guess when he was born?  You got it, 1955, the year that Gladwell pinpoints is the ideal year for computer geniuses to be born in, along with Bill Gates and other famous software engineers.)

Ever wonder why Asian’s are typically so much better at math than everybody else?  Gladwell has an answer for that too!  He also discusses a Korean airline that had a terrible track record, and how they were able to turn that around just by looking at cultural issues.

Outliers was really interesting.  I don’t think it’s as good as his previous two, but still definitely worth reading!

Hiding in Plain Sight by Ken Bowers

“Unmasking how secret combinations operate in the last days”

I read this book for book club and I wish I hadn’t. I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy.

The book is basically a mormon version of all the same bullshit conspiracy theories you can find anywhere.  (I realize that “bullshit” is a very strong term and I do not use it lightly.  This is exactly what this book is.)

He begins by claiming that if you think conspiracy theorists are just nutters, then you are just mindlessly following the media, which is controlled by the conspirators.  He says that if you pray about his message that God will let you know that it is true.  (Which by the way, is totally against the teaching of the church.) He continues, throughout the entire book, to use scripture and quotes from church leaders taken out of context and twisted to fit his theories.

He starts his book with a chapter titled “There Is NO Conspiracy So There!”  He makes a list of some of the reasons that people give for not accepting conspiracy theories and attempts to argue against them.  I won’t go into detail about all of his arguments, but here are a few.  He invokes Occam’s razor, claiming that everyone should accept his theory as truth because it is the simplest explanation for recent world events.  After reading this book and doing a little research online, I beg to differ!  There is nothing at all simplistic about Bowers’ ideas.  They are extremely complicated and confusing.  I personally believe that the generally accepted explanation for world events is actually the least complicated or at least a lot less complicated than his explanations.  His 5th point is “We don’t have to worry about an evil conspiracy in the last days, because all we have to do is live the gospel, go to church and listen to the prophet.”  He says that this thinking is wrong.  I don’t even understand his reasoning here.  It really doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The rest of the book is all about the different groups that are involved in the conspiracy and their plans for the future.  If Bowers is to be believed, you’d better watch out because EVERYONE is part of the conspiracy.  Any politician with power, the Queen, the UN, anyone with money, the entire media, the Jews, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Episcopalians, and of course the Catholics.  (This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the people and groups he says are involved.  Any group that any other conspiracy theorists has ever mentioned is included by Bowers.) He says that the regular members of these organizations and churches don’t realize it, but all the people at the top are secretly devil worshippers that are gradually leading the people to the same.

He claims that income tax and all social programs are evil because they are part of the plan of the conspirators.  He says that this is the way they are going to control us.  I’m sure that he thinks Canada is super evil because of our education and health care systems.

He makes these outrageous claims about who these people are and what their plans are but he never has a source for his information.  He quotes a few books that other conspiracy theorists have written but he really has absolutely nothing concrete.  I am amazed that he can make these accusations without even citing and references or sources for his information.  For example “On October 4, 1965, Pope Paul IV addressed the United Nations.  After the speech, Pope Paul went to the meditation room in the United Nations room and was initiated into the Illuminati.”  That’s it.  He makes a bold statement, claiming that the pope was a member of the conspiracy and then nothing.  No source.  And don’t think that there is a references section at the back, because there isn’t.

Another thing that really bothered me about this book, is that he obviously didn’t have an editor.  There are so many spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, missing words etc.  I think I’ve mentioned before that it bothers me when people can’t spell… He’s also not a great writer, but then again, neither am I.  At least I’ve never charged anyone money to read what I’ve written!

I have not yet covered the reason I wouldn’t reccomend this book and the reason I wish I’d never read it.  I did not like the feeling this book gave me.  It was very dark and depressing.  Even though I don’t believe anything he wrote, I still find myself watching a TV show or reading something online and wondering how it might be connected to the conspiracy.  I just can’t get it out of my head.  I’ve been reading Wuthering Heights to cheer me up!