Thanks for sharing this book summary. I am tempted to just keep your summary and reflect on it, but will resist that temptation and download the book and read the whole thing; have to resist that AI feeling towards expediency! These connections between place, people, local or regional history, etc is foundational to my own work (Wisdom Road, coming out in January), so I hope to add to this conversation! Thanks again.
I relate most strongly with the bit about being conventionally attractive making you more inclined towards believing the world id meritocratic. I am conventionally attractive and I really believed in meritocracy until I was well into my twenties. Thankfully, this pretty face has a curious mind behind it so I read and watched and listened a lot and came to understand how wildly different every individuals experience in the world truly is. I'm glad I figured this out. It doesn't make life easier but I'd still rather have my eyes wide open. Curiosity is a wonderful thing. Would love to read this book and if I don't win it I'll likely buy it ❤️
What a lovely comment... I was not conventionally attractive as a kid, but I was born into privilege - private schools, etc... It made me less of a believer in meritocracy because it was so obvious to me that I'd not merited the privilege. My journey, in a sense, has been the reverse of yours - to see that there is such a thing as grit and hard work, that 'merit' does exist ;-)
Thanks for sharing this book summary. I am tempted to just keep your summary and reflect on it, but will resist that temptation and download the book and read the whole thing; have to resist that AI feeling towards expediency! These connections between place, people, local or regional history, etc is foundational to my own work (Wisdom Road, coming out in January), so I hope to add to this conversation! Thanks again.
Thanks Grant!
And I look forward to picking up your book in 2027!
I relate most strongly with the bit about being conventionally attractive making you more inclined towards believing the world id meritocratic. I am conventionally attractive and I really believed in meritocracy until I was well into my twenties. Thankfully, this pretty face has a curious mind behind it so I read and watched and listened a lot and came to understand how wildly different every individuals experience in the world truly is. I'm glad I figured this out. It doesn't make life easier but I'd still rather have my eyes wide open. Curiosity is a wonderful thing. Would love to read this book and if I don't win it I'll likely buy it ❤️
What a lovely comment... I was not conventionally attractive as a kid, but I was born into privilege - private schools, etc... It made me less of a believer in meritocracy because it was so obvious to me that I'd not merited the privilege. My journey, in a sense, has been the reverse of yours - to see that there is such a thing as grit and hard work, that 'merit' does exist ;-)
This is a wonderful talk debunking the idea of meritocracy.
https://youtu.be/MtSE4rglxbY?si=j-ObgbpD8Exe7eR1
❤️