I just finished Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World. And when I tried to review it for SUYB, I ended up with 5+ paragraphs and knew it deserved its own post:
This book wasn't necessarily easy to read. The first half is basically, "You're stupid" which no one wants to hear. But... after making it through and being forced to open my eyes to a multitude of cultural and societal issues and admit that no, I don't educate myself as much as I should, I'm glad I read it. Sometimes, especially in a society of participation trophies and being told how special you are from birth, we do need to hear that we're not the best and brightest and yes, we could and should be doing better.
Did you know that 22% of women would rather lose their ability to read than their figures? What the what??? Did you know that 12-18% of women who have breast implants lose all sensation in their nipples AND that women with breast implants are 2-3 times more likely to get several different kinds of cancers? The craziest part to me is not that people are willing to take these risks, it's that no one knows them because apparently we A) Don't care enough to research and B) Doctors aren't required to tell us (though they are required to tell us all the risks behind vaccines, go figure). Bloom also points out that in our culture, looks are rewarded to such an extent that the people making these choices (figures over literacy) might actually be making the more career-minded choice.
Bloom talks about our obsession with celebrity culture, to the point that we completely ignored the genocide going on in Rwanda because we were busy being scandalized by the fact that our president had an affair. To that point that most of us can't name a tiny piece of the humanitarian work done by Angelina Jolie but we all know and have opinions on her love life. And you can say, "Oh, people don't want to focus their brain power overseas - they only care what happens in this country." But do we? Near the end of her tirade against the shallowness and vapidity of our society, Bloom pointedly reminds us that all the missing (and recovered) persons cases that have received long-standing national attention have had white victims. Pretty white women, to be specific. She lists a pile of cases concerning minority children that we have never and probably never will hear about because the media knows which demographic we care about.
I don't necessarily agree with all of Bloom's points, and Bloom admits she's not above it all - as a member of the media, she too wastes hours of her time on her appearance in order to be "camera ready." But I do think the book very much accomplished its goal - it made me think and think hard. I was all ready to give myself a pat on the back for not reading tabloids, and not wanting to waste money on plastic surgery or more than a fairly small amount of cosmetics and clothing, but this was a powerful reminder that there is a ton I don't know about. And not because I'm young or haven't had a chance to learn about it yet. I don't know it because I'm choosing not to seek that knowledge out. I close my eyes and ears, avoid the news, google selective issues occasionally but the majority of the time choose to remain in the dark.
Bloom has me convinced that this is not an acceptable way to live. Even if my only contribution to society is to educate myself, it's one I intend to start now. So I've subscribed to BBC News (global) and NPR because they're the least biased channels I could find. I'll try to pick up more "real" stories like I Am Malala and 3 Cups of Tea, and maybe a little less YA dystopia. I don't know if I'll start donating money to global issues over domestic ones but at least I'll be making that decision with full knowledge of what that choice is.
I don't need to tell you guys to read, since most of you are avid book-devourers, but the second half of Bloom's book goes into "the solution" which is not just to read, but what to read and how to make time for it. She has a few other points on health and family and time management, but my biggest takeaway was this.
You can't make good decisions without educating yourself and most of our country is uneducated. Don't contribute to that problem.
I don't necessarily think you need to read the book to get that message, BUT I recommend it anyway, because I don't think this short summary can really hit home in the same way. If for no other reason than to shock yourself, read the book and find out what you don't know.
What's a book you'd recommend even if you didn't necessarily enjoy reading it? What books have you found the most impactful to your own life?
