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knightvspawn 's review for:
The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?
by Michael J. Sandel
medium-paced
The book brought up some good points and was definitely thought provoking at times, but ultimately seemed to be a bit muddled. A lot of key terms (like "Elite" and "Merit") were never clearly defined, and seemed to be elastic enough way to cover basically whatever author didn't like. In a few areas the author seemed overly partisan and somewhat uninformed (dismissing futures and CDSs as merely speculative comes to mind - I'm sure a case can be made against both, but to completely overlook their role in risk management, which is very useful to the "real economy" seems at best uniformed and at worst dishonest).
Some things like the college admission scandal and ivy leaguers unnecessarily competing for prestige seem to be highly significant to the author, but it's less clear to me that this is representative of American culture in general. A lot of his argument seemed to be extrapolated from anecdotes, with data sprinkled in as window dressing.
When reading these types of books I always think about that old Isaiah Berlin quote about how the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. Hedgehog books are great at a scratching a mental itch to make it seem like you've gotten to the root of things, but sweep a lot of pesky nuance under the rug. Fox books are better at analyzing the world as it actually is, though usually come to less tidy conclusions. This was definitely a hedgehog book.
Some things like the college admission scandal and ivy leaguers unnecessarily competing for prestige seem to be highly significant to the author, but it's less clear to me that this is representative of American culture in general. A lot of his argument seemed to be extrapolated from anecdotes, with data sprinkled in as window dressing.
When reading these types of books I always think about that old Isaiah Berlin quote about how the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. Hedgehog books are great at a scratching a mental itch to make it seem like you've gotten to the root of things, but sweep a lot of pesky nuance under the rug. Fox books are better at analyzing the world as it actually is, though usually come to less tidy conclusions. This was definitely a hedgehog book.