For this assignment, you are being asked to read one book from the following 4 options:
1.- How to think like a Roman Emperor. By Donald J. Robertson
2.- Atomic Habits. By James Clear
3.- Outliers. By Malcolm Gladwell
4.- Talking to Strangers. By Malcolm Gladwell
In this book summary, you have the obligation to show the perspective of the book, along with your personal take as it supports the point of the author. I could, for example, disagree with the writer, and if I do, I need to explain why along with showing what the reading is about. When I grade your report, I will be using a rubric, rather than my take on your point of view about the book.
Here are some guidelines to follow:
1.- Your report needs to be a minimum of 5 pages long, and not more than 6.
2.- Summarize in your own words what the author of the book is trying to convey.
3.- Divide the book in half and start reading the first half right away.
4.- Provide samples from the book to strengthen your point. In How To Think Like A Roman Emperor on page 40, in the section labeled “What did the Stoics believe?” The author writes about how: “Oftentimes, when people win the lottery, they end up unable to manage the money and this becomes a source of misery.” The author explains that people who know how to be stoic, learn to use what they have “wisely”. Specifically, the author says that “The fool” always believes that they need more to get ahead in life, still when they get more, they just squander it all away and never use what they have (wisely).” Up to this point, the overarching theme is that practicing stoicism means that one has to learn to be wise. Stoicism is not only a philosophy but also a theory that helps us see life’s challenges as opportunities and how to make the best of them.
In the book Atomic Habits, the introduction is a section that caught my attention right away because the author, James Clear first introduced the idea of how to form habits that work. On page 9, he introduces the four principles that he would then talk about throughout the book. Clear shows that the four-step model of habits is cues, craving, response, and reward. Is not until much later in the book that these principles come into play to make sense of the author’s overall message. The introduction is set up in a way that as one reads what the writer has gone through in life, it is easy to understand right from the start that to be successful in anything we want to accomplish in life, one must start modifying how we approach daily life with tiny changes, not big attempts to radically start something new. My take on the author’s point is that when we try to make radical changes, we fall victim to not being able to sustain a pace we were not used to in the first place. Instead, it is best to methodically start with tiny, minute changes to build upon until we get to where we want to be. Most often, getting started with new projects we want to achieve, getting started is the most difficult part of the equation because we do not start with a plan that works and that plan has to be rooted in tiny changes, not an overhaul from day one.
If you selected the Talking to Strangers book, make sure you read up to page 167 to make sure you can provide a summary of what the sections in the book are about and to recognize a pattern of what the overall point is from this first half of the book. If you chose this book, you are doing more of a traditional summary of what the book is about. Here is an example of a quick summary of one of the points the book is trying to make. One pattern that emerges from reading the first half of the book is that there are so many instances in which we are confronted with what people are like, but we tend to ignore this if the situation makes us uncomfortable because it is easier to give people the benefit of a doubt, even though there are so many trends that point out to how people are not genuinely telling the truth. One specific case is with Fidel Castro Cuban spies in the US. Such is the case With Ana Belen Montes who should have been known to be a spy, but the CIA ignored all the obvious signs. We do this (ignore obvious signs) because is human nature to give people the benefit of the doubt with mostly internalizing information that gives us positive outlooks on what people are like rather than letting us see the true intentions in people. However, The point is not that we always assume the positive, but that we misread the signs which lead to miscommunication. I believe the author is trying to say that it is easier to figure out who is lying and who is trying to be deceiving when that person is a stranger. The more we know the person, the more we tend to not see their true intentions. What other patterns have you seen in this section?
5.- Overall, the same rubric applies to the book report regardless of the book you select.
The last option for the book selection is Outliers. While all the chapters are really interesting, I found the second chapter “The 10,000 Hour Rule” caught my attention because the overall point is that when people are very successful, it is not because they are talented, but because they spent so much time practicing and performing the very activity they have excelled with. The book uses examples of how computer programmers became wealthy. They became successful because they practiced their skill over and over and over and then over again [over 10,000 hours]. Of course, practicing alone is not the only key factor. There has to be opportunity and chance. People who are wealthy and who have access to resources and time tend to be far more successful than those who do not. This is important because when we think of successful wealthy people, we oftentimes think they obtain their wealth from being genius. We do not always think about all the trials and tribulations that the person went through. I know that to become really good at something, I have to train and practice over time to be able to become an expert. In addition, those who have access to resources, tools, and equipment to be trained most often have the upper hand.ple used the basic English
