Scan barcode
alexager5028's review against another edition
3.0
I should start by saying I'm a huge fan of Tyler Cowen's. I value his insights on a wide range of topics. But this book is a bit of a mess.
First, the title is very misleading. The book is not so much about creating your own economy, but rather how many of the traits of autism, such as systematic ordering of information, are beneficial to success in the digital age. The fact that the title doesn't even mention autism is not very true to the book.
His premise was unique and I largely agree with it. However, the problem I had with the book is that it would have probably made for a better article than a book. Stretching the idea out led to Tyler taking the idea in many seemingly unrelated areas. At certain points in the book I would ask myself, what does this have to do with autism or the digital world?
First, the title is very misleading. The book is not so much about creating your own economy, but rather how many of the traits of autism, such as systematic ordering of information, are beneficial to success in the digital age. The fact that the title doesn't even mention autism is not very true to the book.
His premise was unique and I largely agree with it. However, the problem I had with the book is that it would have probably made for a better article than a book. Stretching the idea out led to Tyler taking the idea in many seemingly unrelated areas. At certain points in the book I would ask myself, what does this have to do with autism or the digital world?
rissaur's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
This book’s title is completely misleading, and only had about 5 pages even mentioning economics. There is some valuable information about the experiences of nuerodivergent people, but that’s the only good part of this novel. And the end of this book has nothing to do with the main themes of the book and doesn’t help the reader conclude anything about the pages they’ve just read.
bobuva's review
4.0
A very interesting book! Cowen explains human diversity in terms of our neurology, explaining that there are a lot of positive aspects of the autistic spectrum, that autistics receive a bad rap in contemporary culture. Education, he points out, is organized to teach us to focus and remember information, which are two autistic traits. Cowen goes way beyond education to show how autistic traits would be helpful for all us to understand better. By paying attention to our neuro-diversity, we will be better citizens, better people in general, and less likely to accept the stereotypes and common cultural biases of the supposedly neuro-common.
Cowen challenges our assumptions and presents a persuasive argument for viewing our world differently, and accepting the artistic and cognitive differences among humans. One point he makes that I found fascinating and insightful was that so many people consider the westernization of common culture in China, for example, to be a loss for human diversity because it appears to promote popular western culture over local cultural norms. Cowen counters that in today's globally-connected world with the internet and easy access to world-wide information and opinion, that geographic and national boundaries represent an antiquated view of human diversity. The fact that there are people interested in online games or any other hobby or intellectual pursuit who can connect on the web makes these old boundaries less important.
In regard to the book's title, the author points out that in centuries (and even decades) past, in order to appreciate some of the leading examples of culture (e.g, the Sistine Chapel), people had to make the pilgramage to the site. Although that is still true, there is so much more of a proliferation of artistic innovation these days. Creating your own economy can be as simple as participating in online pursuits that further your own artistic interests. For an autistic person this might be tracking patterns in baseball statistics over a season. For anyone, in fact, it might be finding that pattern of stimuli that engages your attention.
Cowen challenges our assumptions and presents a persuasive argument for viewing our world differently, and accepting the artistic and cognitive differences among humans. One point he makes that I found fascinating and insightful was that so many people consider the westernization of common culture in China, for example, to be a loss for human diversity because it appears to promote popular western culture over local cultural norms. Cowen counters that in today's globally-connected world with the internet and easy access to world-wide information and opinion, that geographic and national boundaries represent an antiquated view of human diversity. The fact that there are people interested in online games or any other hobby or intellectual pursuit who can connect on the web makes these old boundaries less important.
In regard to the book's title, the author points out that in centuries (and even decades) past, in order to appreciate some of the leading examples of culture (e.g, the Sistine Chapel), people had to make the pilgramage to the site. Although that is still true, there is so much more of a proliferation of artistic innovation these days. Creating your own economy can be as simple as participating in online pursuits that further your own artistic interests. For an autistic person this might be tracking patterns in baseball statistics over a season. For anyone, in fact, it might be finding that pattern of stimuli that engages your attention.
rdebner's review against another edition
This title was very misleading. He never defines what he means by "create your own economy." He spends a lot of time talking about the cognitive strengths of people with autism and how these strengths could benefit the rest of us in a media-rich, information-saturated society. He makes an argument that the internet and digital technology is not sapping our attention or making us more distractible; he undermines his own argument by producing a text that reads like a connection of hyperlinks, with very little connection or transition between ideas. I made it about halfway through and skimmed the rest, waiting for him to make a point related to the title of the book. I gave up.
davidr's review against another edition
2.0
This book is proof that you cannot judge a book by its title. I thought that, since the book's title contains the word, "economy" and since the author is a behavioral economist, that the book would be about economics, and about the economic decisions that people make. How wrong could I be!
This book is really about the psychological lessons we can learn from people who are autistic. In order to improve our understanding of a disordered world, we should follow the psychological outlook of autistics. That is the essence of the book, in a nutshell.
The author talks a lot about the Internet and information overload. He suggests that really, we have a poorly filtered web of information. I guess that is true.
There are many interesting ideas in this book. However, I just didn't see the rhyme or reason in the book, as chapters branch out into tangents that didn't seem to be held together by a central theme. That is the main reason why I cannot recommend the book. It is directionless; the book seems to suffer from the very thing that he is trying to solve!
This book is really about the psychological lessons we can learn from people who are autistic. In order to improve our understanding of a disordered world, we should follow the psychological outlook of autistics. That is the essence of the book, in a nutshell.
The author talks a lot about the Internet and information overload. He suggests that really, we have a poorly filtered web of information. I guess that is true.
There are many interesting ideas in this book. However, I just didn't see the rhyme or reason in the book, as chapters branch out into tangents that didn't seem to be held together by a central theme. That is the main reason why I cannot recommend the book. It is directionless; the book seems to suffer from the very thing that he is trying to solve!
michaelkerr's review
2.0
I have an idea! Let's write a book about the autism spectrum and give it a hopelessly misleading title! While not uninteresting, this book has very little to do with the economy, and provides no real direction towards creating a prosperous future. If you're interested in autism, you'll find this book worthwhile - but if you pick this up hoping for guidance in our 'disordered world,' you'll be both disappointed and astonished at how tangential the title is in relation to the contents.
More...