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danicapage's review
2.0
I went in hearing vast and unrestrained praise for Of Boys and Men, and I was deeply disappointed by it. And probably not for the reasons many might assume. It cited this book at the outset, and since I expected to like Of Boys and Men, I expected this would be good, too.
After being disappointed in Of Boys and Men, which felt derivative of this book in many ways, I wondered if the source book would be more complete and address the concerns I saw in Of Boys and Men.
So I still went in hoping for a nuanced discussion of a problem I see and have thought a lot about—one that could foster meaningful discussion. Instead, I found cherry picked data points, failure to present counter arguments, failure to present contrary datapoints, sweeping generalizations, and unsubstantiated claims throughout.
I’m highly disappointed. And I feel like there is another layer here the authors never address. For example, he contends that women are the ones in recession and AI safe jobs like teaching and nursing and that we have a lack of men in those fields. But he never gets to what is at the heart of that why.
Anyway, I’ll keep reading along this genre. I read books on my first read with a mission to prove them right and to accept all stats and facts as true. Basically I seek to prove them right but I found some massive holes in the data presented here and in Of Boys and Men.
After being disappointed in Of Boys and Men, which felt derivative of this book in many ways, I wondered if the source book would be more complete and address the concerns I saw in Of Boys and Men.
So I still went in hoping for a nuanced discussion of a problem I see and have thought a lot about—one that could foster meaningful discussion. Instead, I found cherry picked data points, failure to present counter arguments, failure to present contrary datapoints, sweeping generalizations, and unsubstantiated claims throughout.
I’m highly disappointed. And I feel like there is another layer here the authors never address. For example, he contends that women are the ones in recession and AI safe jobs like teaching and nursing and that we have a lack of men in those fields. But he never gets to what is at the heart of that why.
Anyway, I’ll keep reading along this genre. I read books on my first read with a mission to prove them right and to accept all stats and facts as true. Basically I seek to prove them right but I found some massive holes in the data presented here and in Of Boys and Men.
alij22's review
This book is affront to anyone of any gender with any intelligence whatsoever. Utter heteronormative garbage that is harmful to all.
christina_likes_to_read's review
4.0
Reading this book was a little bit of a slog for me. There was some really good information in it. It helped me have a new perspective on some things—especially the challenges that boys face today. There were also several things I didn’t agree with. And I got really bored towards the end. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it were shorter.
camaradecanuck's review
2.0
This book was quite the ride. I have read Of Boys and Men by Richard V. Reeves and learned a great deal about the many issues facing modern men and boys and thought this book might expand on these topics or give me new perspectives and ideas. I did get some new insights and understandings into the issues I was interested in but mixed in to this was a whole host of other stuff I really did not care for.
Here is how most of this book went for me:
- Insightful passage
- Neocon pick yourself up by the bootstraps rhetoric
- Insightful statistic with discussion
- Anyone can be Bill Gates or Elon Musk if they work hard passage
- Empathetic discussion of how to deal with issues facing you or a loved one
- Hey did you know I helped John Lennon? (repeat 7-8 times throughout book)
Rinse and repeat until the second author hops in to talk about autism and ADHD for the last part of the book. The last part was so bad that it dropped this review from 3 stars to 2. He talks about drinking raw dairy to cure or treat ADHD as well as discussing chiropractic and hydrotherapy among other alternative medicines to treat the various plights of modern men and boys. I'm not disparaging these alternative treatments as I do agree that many modern societies (especially countries with financialized healthcare) are over-eager to prescribe meds but I just really didn't like it being included in this book and thought it brought the whole package down a level.
Overall, read Of Boys and Men before this unless you really like Dave Ramsey's world views and want that lens used to interpret the various crises men and boys are facing today outside of just finances.
Here is how most of this book went for me:
- Insightful passage
- Neocon pick yourself up by the bootstraps rhetoric
- Insightful statistic with discussion
- Anyone can be Bill Gates or Elon Musk if they work hard passage
- Empathetic discussion of how to deal with issues facing you or a loved one
- Hey did you know I helped John Lennon? (repeat 7-8 times throughout book)
Rinse and repeat until the second author hops in to talk about autism and ADHD for the last part of the book. The last part was so bad that it dropped this review from 3 stars to 2. He talks about drinking raw dairy to cure or treat ADHD as well as discussing chiropractic and hydrotherapy among other alternative medicines to treat the various plights of modern men and boys. I'm not disparaging these alternative treatments as I do agree that many modern societies (especially countries with financialized healthcare) are over-eager to prescribe meds but I just really didn't like it being included in this book and thought it brought the whole package down a level.
Overall, read Of Boys and Men before this unless you really like Dave Ramsey's world views and want that lens used to interpret the various crises men and boys are facing today outside of just finances.
zbaby95's review
Truthfully, I loved this book! I just started med school shortly after starting the book and ran out of time to finish it.
qualiareedauthor's review
3.0
The first half of this book, written by Warren Farrell, is excellent (5 stars) and has truly given me some great advice that I will be using as I raise my son. I can't say enough good things about his half of the book.
The second half, as a LOT of reviewers also mention, is where this book almost ended up in the trash (zero stars).
"Dr" John Gray, goes off immediately about the healing powers of Homeopathy, mentions the metals in vaccines causing injury and so on.... This half of the book has all of the credibility of a facebook info-graphic. I was appalled and it made me lose respect for Doctor Farrell and it made me doubt the message he was relaying in the first half of the book.
As a parent, and a health care worker, I am interested in best practice, best evidence methods. Nearly everything John Gray talks about is proven to be total garbage and outright false.
The second half, as a LOT of reviewers also mention, is where this book almost ended up in the trash (zero stars).
"Dr" John Gray, goes off immediately about the healing powers of Homeopathy, mentions the metals in vaccines causing injury and so on.... This half of the book has all of the credibility of a facebook info-graphic. I was appalled and it made me lose respect for Doctor Farrell and it made me doubt the message he was relaying in the first half of the book.
As a parent, and a health care worker, I am interested in best practice, best evidence methods. Nearly everything John Gray talks about is proven to be total garbage and outright false.
zmftimelord's review
2.0
I almost don’t know where to begin. What purports to be well researched causation ends up as speculation rooted more on correlation. Yes, boys need attention too, and we are seeing signs of there needing to be more awareness of their issues in the modern world. Addressing the role of the father and family life was good and helpful, but I found it very hard to get past the early chapters suggesting that it is extremely hard to be male in todays world or how a father might wish for a daughter before a son.
And then we get into the holistic medicine and unsupported “science” that immediately calls into question the entire work. What a mess!
The style, the bold lines on every page or two, the short sections all scream internet posting rather than polemic, casting a long and dubious shadow over the most salient and important points. You have to dig under stereotyping, speciousness, and salesmanship to find the good and meaningful work of this book.
And then we get into the holistic medicine and unsupported “science” that immediately calls into question the entire work. What a mess!
The style, the bold lines on every page or two, the short sections all scream internet posting rather than polemic, casting a long and dubious shadow over the most salient and important points. You have to dig under stereotyping, speciousness, and salesmanship to find the good and meaningful work of this book.