The Smartest Kids In The World

The Smartest Kids in the World

By Amanda Ripley

Along with the rest of America, I have been thinking this weekend about things that I am thankful for. My education is one of the things that came most prominently to mind. There are a couple of reasons for that: (1) I had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with fellow medical students hosted by two professors and (2) one of my former professors, who was a gifted and kind teacher, passed away this past week. These two events made me think about how much the tendrils of my education have reached into all areas of my life, shaping my attitudes and my worldview, introducing me to wonderful people that I truly love, and allowing me to find work that is challenging, rewarding, and exciting. It's hard for me to imagine who I might be without the influence of the people and places that have educated me through all these years, and this weekend, I felt very grateful for their time and teaching.

Although, being honest, I spend a lot of time thinking about education in general, and my education specifically. Perhaps this is a side effect of being in the 23rd grade. Perhaps it's the residuals of that summer I spent in Teach For America training. Either way, education is a topic that I've been interested in for a long time. I've had my eye on this book for quite a while, so when it turned up on a bargain table and I had a gift card, I picked it up.

The Smartest Kids in the World takes the conversation about education away from local politics (that so often dominate the conversation in America) to look at differences from an international perspective. Ripley follows three American exchange students: one each in Finland, South Korea, and Poland. Through the experiences of these students, Ripley talks about the differences in educational systems around the world, and the corresponding differences in international test scores. She focuses primarily on the PISA, an international test that requires critical thinking as opposed to wrote memorization.

The author is a journalist, and the book feels more like an (extremely) long form article than anything else. It skims the surface of these issues rather than going into great depth. There is not much here that even a peripheral watcher of education like myself hasn't thought about before. She doesn't tell nearly enough of the stories of her representative students to make them feel like real fleshed out characters, squandering an opportunity that could have allowed her to say something new about these issues.

So, read this book if the following ideas sound new or interesting: Teachers in Finland are more rigorously screened and trained than those in most other nations, and their work in the classroom reflects this intellectual strength. The extreme high pressure end-of-high-school exam in South Korea is associated with a lucrative test prep industry, stressed and sleep-deprived students, and parents who think of themselves as "educational coaches." Expectations and peer attitudes influence school performance, and tracking students early leads to poor outcomes for the lowest track. Grit, hard work, and a willingness to stick with it when things get hard are all as important as pure brains. Most other nations in the world do not have nearly the focus on athletics that Americans do, and in many nations, there is no such thing as a "school team." Rigor and high expectations lead to better student performance around the US and around the world, regardless of socioeconomic factors. (Shout out to TFA! I recognized that one.)

Overall, The Smartest Kids in the World is an acceptable general interest read. But for me, the most enlightening thing in the book was Ripley's repeated observation that no nation is satisfied with what they've got. (Apparently one of the things that you hear traveling the world talking about education is people from all around the world complaining about their local educational system). If you've thought about this a lot, this volume is too slim to offer anything new. However, if you haven't thought about education much before, this is an accessible introduction that gets to some serious issues not always mentioned in discussions focused on the American system alone.

And yes, it left me feeling extremely grateful for a number of things: parents who read to me as a child and encouraged my love of books and words and science from the first, what little bit of grit I've got, and Miss Porter's - a place where I was truly challenged in ways that made me a better thinker. I am extremely grateful for all 23 grades of my education so far, and for the long weekend off that allowed me to read something about education in between all the education I'm still getting in pediatrics and neuroscience. Appreciation for the process is sometimes the best motivator... so back to work I go.

Missing Microbes

Missing Microbes
By Martin J. Blaser
2014
Henry Holt and Co.
288 pages
ISBN: 9780805098105
LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program

I am a neuroscientist, but I've found myself thinking a lot about microbiome science (traditionally the realm of immunologists and microbiologists) lately. There are a couple of reasons for this. (1) It's one of the areas that has gotten a lot of coverage in the media lately. The communication of scientific results in the popular media is one of my areas of interest,  soI have read a few primary papers in the past couple of months to compare the actual results to the stories in the popular news media. (2) Dr. Jeff Gordon (the microbiologist, not the NASCAR driver) gave a (fantastic!) talk at the annual MSTP retreat that left me with a bunch of questions to do follow up reading on. (3) I have been thinking a lot about non-invasive interventions that influence emotional regulatory brain systems, and it turns out that there is some evidence that probiotics may fall into that category (Curious? Read the abstract here.) Anyway, I was very excited to get a free review copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Dr. Martin Blaser is one of the leaders in the field of microbiome research, and this book serves as an excellent introduction to the biology of the human microbiome, and how and modern medical practices are changing human-bacterial interactions. As a physician-scientist and someone who has done some in depth reading in the field, I found the first few chapters overly simplistic, but I suspect that they are at the right level for the general science reader. (General science readers, please tell me if this impression is correct.) Overall, I think that Blaser's summary of the ongoing research in this field is well-written and clear.

Dr. Blaser's basic thesis is that many modern ailments, including obesity, asthma and allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease, may be related to the alterations in the human microbiome, and that these alterations have been brought on by such practices as overuse of antibiotics and the increased frequency of Cesarean section births. Microbiome studies is a developing and active field of research, with new findings being published practically every day. Blaser's review is fairly comprehensive, and he does a good job describing the methods and findings of specific studies to allow the readers not only to hear the conclusions, but see how those conclusions were reached.

However, I do think that Dr. Blaser is sometimes a little overzealous in his presentation of potential human clinical applications of preclinical (animal) research findings, sometimes taking things one or two steps further than the data specifically supports. My work in science communication has led me to be very wary of stating the potential future implications of work without carefully emphasizing the potential aspect, and Blaser sometimes falls on the wrong side of that divide. To me this is doubly unfortunate because he also misses the chance to describe the future research needed to translate the basic science findings into actual human heath applications. In this time of limited science funding, this is a missed to present the process of translational science to the general public in what I suspect will be a widely read book. A better explanation could have gone far to garner support for research funding, especially in this increasingly "hot" topic in human health.

Overall, this is a very strong book. Perhaps most importantly, it presents one of the more well-articulated and accessible arguments for limiting antibiotic use that I have ever encountered. As a health professional, I can only hope that many of my patients will read it and come to the office ready to engage in an informed discussion of the risks and benefits of choosing antibiotic treatment.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The opinions expressed here are my own, and were not influenced by the publisher aside from the fact that I read this book sooner than I might have otherwise because I wanted to write a timely review.

Buzz Books 2014: Young Adult

So I recently joined a site called NetGalley.com, which gives free digital galleys of soon-to-be-released books to "professional readers," including bloggers and people that write reviews for websites. My chance of getting free books increases if my blog is more active (and if I get more people to actually read this). Getting free books that I want to read before they even come out is extra motivation to write more, which is something that I wanted to do anyway. I'm hoping that checking in here will help me keep in touch with my reading life as I dive into the third year of medical school. Think of this post as the first in a revitalization of this blog. I am committing to posting at least once a week going forward. Right. 

Anyway, one of the first things I downloaded is a thing called Buzz Books 2014: Young Adult. This is a book that has previews of around 20 forthcoming young adult books. For each one I got 10 pages or so, mostly from the very beginning of the book. I think this is particularly cool because while I often enjoy YA, I also find that it's the highest risk of the genres that I read. I love some books that are called YA, but others are too childish, poorly written, or just not great. Digging through an increasingly crowded field to find The Book Thief can be hit or miss. Plus, I don't have sources of reviews and recommendations that I trust the way I do for "adult" novels. However, these short previews are enough to help me decide what I want to take the time to read, and what I can skip. I've put the books into four main categories (1) Want to read, (2) Not for me, but good enough that I can see imagine suggesting to the right audience (3) Intriguing, but not for right now (4) Probably just skippable.

Now, obviously these books aren't out yet as I write this, and these are impressions based on only about 2 chapters of each. You should take everything I say here with a grain of salt. Really, I'm mostly doing this as an exercise for the compulsive book-finisher. (I can count on my fingers the books that I have actually given up on, but the books I SHOULD have given up on is a much longer list.)

The preview format actually forces a decision-point; I read a little bit and then decide if what I have read so far makes it worth making extra effort to read more. There's no inertial force to keep reading because the whole book is already in my hands. We'll see how it pans out between this and the other Buzz Books edition of adult reads that I also downloaded. So far, I think that I find it liberating. It's also an exercise in reading eBooks, not my favorite thing, but something it might be useful to accept in some situations.

So with that, my impressions of the books in Buzz Books 2014: YA

Want to read

Zac and Mia By A.J. Betts
This one is about kids in a cancer ward (perhaps a relation of The Fault in Our Stars, but I haven't gotten to that one yet.) Separated by a hospital room wall we have a long term ward resident in isolation as he recovers from a bone marrow transplant (Zac), and a new arrival who plays Lady Gaga loudly and on repeat (I assume Mia, although that wasn't revealed in the excerpt.) The writing is good, the characters, not just Zac, but also his mother and one of the nurses on the floor, have the feel of real people in only a few short pages. I can't completely explain why I want in on this one, but it got me.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World By Katie Coyle
A young girl living in the world where a predicted rapture has gained cultural power far greater than Harold Camping ever warranted. Even Vivian's parents have become "believers," and she herself is clearly conflicted. The strength of this is good world building even in the first few pages, especially with the quotes from magazines that present a religion that appears an interesting mix of conservative social rules and consumerism. I want to know what happens after just one chapter, so I'll take the time to find out.

Lies We Tell Ourselves By Robin Talley
This one is the story of one of the first black students to integrate a high school in Virginia (and supposedly also one of her white classmates, although that character doesn't obviously appear in the excerpt.) The writing is powerful and emotionally charged, and frankly, with all the coverage of the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education in the last couple of weeks, I find myself curious about integration. This book seems like a cool jumping off point to explore.

The Accidental Highwayman By Ben Tripp
This one, supposedly based on a collection of documents pulled out of an old trunk, has a feel like The Gates By John Connelly, which I truly love. From the excerpt, it seems that a somewhat hapless 16-year-old-servant is about to be sucked into a series of misadventures due to the secret second life of his master. Dryly funny, and I think worth reading.

Afterworlds By Scott Westerfeld
A book that switches back and forth between the life of an 18-year-old author, who defers college for a life in New York City, and the novel that made that choice possible. I am more intrigued by the story within the story so far, (I found the sections of the author signing her contracts and bickering with her sister a little bland). However, the beginning of that story was quite gripping, and I want to read the whole thing, so I am willing to take this one on and hope that the other component picks up quickly.

Not for me, but good enough that I can imagine suggesting to the right audience

Press Play  By Eric Devine
Here we have an overweight teen boy who finds himself in possession of evidence that the lacrosse team that torments him is conducting brutal hazing rituals with the consent of the principal (who has contributed to his position as an outcast.) The first couple chapters seemed to me vaguely reminiscent of The Chocolate War, a book similarly about school politics, the fraught interactions between high school students and faculty, and the power of gang rule in schools. I loved The Chocolate War and found it powerful as a young adult, but haven't read in probably 20 years. I expect from the quality of the writing and the characterization in the first pages of this one that this might represent a timely update, although "the bad guys" might be a little too explicitly bad for there to be much nuance. Either way, I can see how this book would appeal to middle and high school students, but I think that I am past the time when I personally would enjoy a trip back into the sordid politics of high school.

The Zoo At The End of The World By Eric Kahn Gale
This book is about a kid that stutters but can talk to animals. To me this one felt a little more upper middle grade than YA, but the writing was good for that demographic. Overall, the idea is cool, the central character is appealing, and I can see it being a good fit for my younger cousins that fall into that in-between demographic. I imagine that what is clearly going to be a banner cast of animal characters will only make this more appealing for the upper middle graders. I might be buying copies of this one as Christmas gifts.

Bombay Blues By Tanuja Desai Hidler
This is the sequel to a book I haven't read, so it loses something but is not really at fault. I do want to say that it is great to see a well-developed young woman of color as a central character in a mainstream YA book, especially one that seems to deal explicitly with issues of cultural conflicts. Still, I doubt this one is worth reading if I haven't read Born Confused, and I am not sure that I am interested enough to go back.  We'll see, maybe some other time. Either way, for fans of Born Confused this starts strong.

Talon By Julie Kagawa
This is the first in a series about dragons who can take human form and are living among us, hiding from soldiers of the Order of St. George out to hunt them to extinction. The concept is cool, but the execution in the first chapters felt a little juvenile. I'd be willing to bet this one will hit with kids, (again, some of the cousins come to mind) but I doubt it will translate to adults as well as The Hunger Games or Divergent did. I certainly didn't love it enough to commit to a series.

Clariel By Garth Nix
This is a prequel to a completed trilogy. The writing is good enough that I'm sure readers of the other books will like it, but I am not one of them, and don't plan to become one.

King Dork Approximately By Frank Portman
Another second in series which seems good enough that I'd bet those that liked the first one will enjoy it, but not good enough to make me want to read the first one. 

Falling Into Place  By Amy Zhang
This is a book about the events leading up to the suicide (attempt?) of a popular high school student. The writing was just 100%, completely, all out teen angst. I'm sure that middle and high school girls all over the  country will love it, but I have (thankfully) aged out of that demographic, so I'll pass. 

Intriguing, but not for right now

Endgame  By James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton
The concept here is interesting. Basically, this is a book that is going to have an interactive real world component that extends outside the book, with some sort of video game build by the google people and puzzles for readers to solve. However, the writing felt choppy. That might just be an artifact of switching between two radically different character's perspectives in a short excerpt without the flow that might be achieved by returning to either. Basically, I can see this one going either way: it might be a seriously awesome idea that changes what teens expect from books, and it might totally flop. Clearly the publisher is putting a ton of resources behind it to push it into the former category. However, it seems to me that the experience will depend on the social component of how other readers are interacting with the book and the game as a whole. So I'll make my choice closer to the October release date when I have a better sense of how that is going to play out. This might be cool enough to get me to voluntarily engage with a series before all the volumes come out. We'll see.

Skink No Surrender By Carl Hiaasen
The beginning of this one mostly just made me curious about the back story on Skink, who is clearly a character of monumental proportions. Apparently he also appears in some of Hiaasen's adult novels, so I think that I will attempt those first. I can see myself coming back to this one, because I suspect that Skink is exactly the kind of character that I am going to fall in love with.  
I'll Give You The Sun By Jandy Nelson
This is a story about twins, that supposedly has a before-and-after format with some life-altering event in the middle. The beginning was good, but for some reason, it didn't completely grab me. I'll wait for reviews on this one, and see if it pops once it's out rather than leading the charge.

The Scavengers By Michael Perry
Another dystopian teen novel. The first couple chapters were OK, and I am moderately intrigued, but the dystopian fiction genre is so very overcrowded and full of duds, that it would take an extremely power opening to get me on board. This was just fine, so I'll wait and see if someone else tells me that I have to read it.

Belzhar By Med Wolitzer
This one is about a young girl sent to a boarding school for emotionally challenged teens after losing her boyfriend. It really could go either way. We all know that I love a good boarding school book, but I'm not sure how much I can take of the life-ending trauma of losing a boyfriend at 15. There just wasn't enough in the excerpt to decide if the good things are going to outweigh the bad, so I'll wait to hear more from readers that I trust.

Probably Just Skippable

Ghost House By Alexandra Adornetto
This one starts with a teen girl wandering in the woods, and coming across a devastatingly handsome fellow who is dressed inappropriately for the times, and who creeps her out a little bit. We're led to believe by the end of the preview that this gentleman might have supernatural origins. The characterization is fine, not obviously bad writing, but I am not sure that the world needs more paranormal teen romances, and I am sure that I do not. I suppose, if you are a lover of paranormal romance, this might be worth looking into, as the writing was fine. However, I don't know anyone that falls both into that category whom I might buy books for or actively recommend books to, so I doubt that I'll ever interact with this one again.

Black Ice By Becca Fitzpatrick
A teen girl going on a camping trip with best friend and ex-boyfriend in the middle of nowhere. This started with the main character running into the ex in a convenience store. She's trying to convince him that she's moved on, so she tells him that the handsome, older stranger pumping gas is her boyfriend. Much to her surprise, the stranger plays along when he comes into the store, but seems to know (or guess) creepily much about her. I can see where this one is going, and I don't really want to go there.

Rumble By Ellen Hopkins
A novel in poems is a very interesting concept, and some of the little plays on language in this excerpt show the potential of the format. Still, this just didn't do enough with it to be worth my time. The poems weren't anything special, and while the line structure changes often, there weren't enough differences between them in meter or language or voice to make them feel like separate pieces of writing. Overall, this seemed like a traditional prose novel with random bold titles and line breaks. I suppose that I might have been really into it if it came out during my bad-poetry-writing-phase in 8th and 9th grade. I suppose also that there is a whole new generation of bad-poetry-writing 14- and 15-year-olds, although I don't know what do they do without livejournal and bolt.com. They might make it a hit, but it's not worth my time or the time of other adults. 

Five Kingdoms: Rogue Night By Brandon Mull
Like Bombay Blues this is the second in a series, and I didn't read the first one. Here though, much more was lost for not having read the first book, and I was largely confused. I suppose there might have been a lot of beautiful world building in the first book, but what they gave me of this felt thin and disjointed. There was nothing compelling enough to make me even consider wanting to go find the first book. Overall, choppy and young, and more upper middle grade than YA. I won't be coming back to it.

Note: I think that it's obvious, but I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley.com. Aside from the freeness, I received no compensation for writing this review.