So, right now is a big process, I mean with the coronavirus and all. If I had a choice, I would be at school right now doing work, mainly because I'm a nerd, but that's okay. The coronavirus is a really big deal, I know a couple people who were diagnosed. I would stay inside where it is save. The virus is really no joke. To the dummies who went out for spring break, you are so stupid you probably sit on the television and watch the couch, you are probably so stupid that you probably don't understand that joke, you are probably so stupid that you probably can't even read that, probably over there using the wrong they're. 

Margaret of Ashbury's introductory tale is included on The Idiot's Guide to Reading's  historical fiction. One of my personal challenges for this year is to read as many books as possible from this list. One down. Fifty-nine more to go. Hopefully the other ones are a little better. 

This was a perfectly fine book. It wasn't anything spectacular or life changing. It was an excellent look at women's lives in medieval England if nothing else. Margaret was immensely likable even if she was incredibly naive. She reminded me of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Everything is more or less falling apart around her but she holds fast to her beliefs and maintains that eventually everything will be alright.

Let's home Margaret's attitude is enough to get her through the next part of her story. She's going to need it. I haven't been that surprised by a plot twist in a long time. 

Read 2/10/2020 - 2/12/2020

Book 14 of 75

'...Kakistocracies seem to be taking over everywhere.' ...

 

'They’ve turned schools into factories. Fill out the form, mark the dot, memorize the same things. At the rate real learning is being undercut, soon we’ll be an idiocracy.’

 

‘Can we blame the internet?’

This was a very clever book. The more I think about it, the quicker I come back to that point. There's a lot more to think about and write about when it comes to Hire Idiots, but the core of it all has to be the cleverness of it.

The novel begins with the murder of an aged college professor—there are not exactly a lot of suspects. He's largely estranged from his family; not particularly liked by his colleagues (but no one really rises to active dislike or enmity); he holds an endowed chair—in English—at a small, obscure Liberal Arts college, so it's not as if his death is going to benefit anyone, or be noticed by anyone outside his department, really.

Before the police can really get the investigation underway, the entire college (including those who did notice his death) are distracted by a shakeup at the top of the administration. The president is removed following a financial scandal. The Board doesn't name an interim and begin a search for a new successor, rather they appoint a figure-head chancellor and a Chief Operations Officer. The COO brings in a Chief Academic Officer, a host of Vice Presidents, and a consulting group to help them (assuming the latter can ever figure out the name of the college). These people couch their ideas in a lot of positive spin and corporate-speak, but what it all boils down to is that programs, departments, and staff are going to be cut—except, of course, in the Business and Criminal Justice areas.

Then an active shooter arrives on campus and ends up taking over an entire building. Instead of letting the police apprehend him, the new corporate leadership removes them from campus and lets their security team deal with the situation, resulting in (for starters) a media blackout. Can't have current and prospective students thinking this is an unsafe place to study and/or spend tuition/fees/etc. money anywhere else.

Where most mystery novels—no matter how cozy they are—would focus on the murder and/or the takeover of the building, Hire Idiots focuses on the responses from the faculty to the new administration and the impending cuts, with a focus on one of the murdered professor's closest acquaintances and his response to the administration, his observations of the rest, and his crush on the detective heading up the murder investigation. I'd estimate 85% of the novel is about the shakeup, 6% about the professor's personal life/response to everything; 5% on the shakeup story and 4% on the takeover.

That's not a criticism, that's a description—primarily so you don't spend a lot of time, like me, wondering "is this actually a Crime Novel or did I mis-remember something?" Yes, it is, but it's not going about anything the way you'd expect.

The bulk of the novel is a satirical/prophetic look at the state of the American higher education (noting repeatedly that British education is further down this path), taking inspiration from the line from William Blake (the focus of the scholarship of our primary character):

Degrade first the arts, if you'd mankind degrade;
Hire idiots to paint with cold light and hot shade.

As such, it is pretty devastating and too close to the truth for comfort.

Like any good satire, there are a couple of scenes that are delightfully and bizarrely absurd. When the Theater Department joined in the Faculty protest and their contribution went awry, I laughed loud enough to draw stares from my family. I won't spoil it, but when you read that bit, you can just imagine me cracking up.

Some of the characters are better-drawn than you frequently see in satire, which is wonderful. I really grew to like a few of them, and appreciated what Nemo was able to with them (although character and character development really didn't seem as important to the novel as did everything else).

On top of that—or on the side, anyway—you've got a nice little puzzle of a murder that at once is clever, and not meaty enough to sustain an entire novel (hence, the rest) and the strange little business about the building takeover. I'm still not sure really get what Nemo was going for there (although, I'm convinced that it should be obvious to me, and I'll feel sheepish when it finally occurs to me), but I enjoyed it.

My one complaint is the length—I think we needed a little more of everything. It all felt just a little under-developed. Not enough to make me dislike the book, just enough to keep me from being fully satisfied.

A clever, clever read that will entertain as it makes you worry about the future of formal education. On the surface, Hire Idiots is a fun read, with some very sharp-witted lines. As a bonus, it'll get you to use "Kakistocracy", which is just a fun word.

I am giving a short review in English and Croatian / Kratak osvrt napisan je na engleskom i hrvatskom jeziku

Short review in English:

I happened to stumble upon this book in my local library (yes, I still go to one and I love it) and the title itself caught my eye. Since lately I have been thinking that quite a bit myself ('there are so many idiots around me') this title just resonated with me and I had to read it immediately. I had different expectations about what this book is about but this turned out to be quite an entertaining read even though I expected a more humorous read.

This book is about the four types of personalities, red - yellow - green - blue. It corresponds with the four temperament theory by Hippocrates. Red ones are dominant ones rushing to the goal, yellow ones are quick to act dreamers and talkers who don't see things through, green ones are reluctant to speak out and get noticed and they hate change, they prefer stability and known and then there are the blue ones, the calculated quiet stoic perfectionist types who might not get the job done but the process which they have undergone to get it done will be perfect.

After each title and an explanation of the chapter we have each type listed and it is explained how they see it or how others see them in this or that situation and how best to approach them or resolve an issue with that particular type. Some individual amusing stories might be involved in the process but not always.

This book is very simplistic and will bring nothing new to the table if you are already familiar with personality types and studies. If you are not, this might be a good introduction to them. But if you are you will keep reading thinking: "...okay, when will the revolutionary part come on". Meaning, you will be hoping for something more than the basic general knowledge. And you won't get it. Because this is bare minimum that you need to know about personality types. Also, I did not much care for those amusing stories being made up stereotypes about each colour. I wish the stories showed more diversity and how most people are a mix of more colours which makes all of us unique and intriguing and much more complicated than the author would have you believe.

I will say this though, reading about the author's education and work experience, I definitely admire his work results and his skills. But he emphasises his greatness in almost every chapter of this book which definitely makes him seem like a big show-off. And I am not sure he has that much to show off in this book because it is so simplistic and repetitive with clearly made up examples to serve the purpose that you cannot help but feel like you knew all of that already and that you have just wasted some of your time even though he does write in an easy to read and understand style so it is not a hard sit.

With that being said, I do not hate this book, I enjoyed some parts and by some parts I was thoroughly bored by. Plus, I could not figure out in which stereotype category to force myself in. I displayed characteristics of all four colours and the author states that in his 20 years of work he has never met someone with all four characteristics and that people just lack in self-reflection so I must just seriously lack in self-reflection. Or I am just a complicated human being whom he cannot so simply throw in one category and move on.

Kratak osvrt na hrvatskom jeziku:

Na ovu sam knjigu naišla posve slučajno u mojoj lokalnoj knjižnici (da, dobro ste pročitali, još uvijek odlazim u knjižnicu i zaista je volim), a njen naslov je bio taj koji mi je odmah privukao pozornost. Pošto u zadnje vrijeme često mislim kako sam okružena idiotima, u tom sam naslovu i autoru prepoznala istomišljenika. Smatrala sam da će to biti lako ljetno štivo prožeto humorom i anegdotama no ispalo je ponešto drugačije što nije nužno loše no nije niti ono čemu sam se nadala.

U ovoj se knjizi predstavljaju i objašnjavaju četiri tipa osobnosti koje su predstavljene kao crvena - žuta - zelena - plava. One odgovaraju četiri tipa temperamenta koja je predstavio Hipokrat. Crveni su dominantni i žure ispunjenju svog cilja nauštrb pogreškama, žuti su također brzi u poduzimanju nečeg, osmišljavanju i kovanju velikih planova no često ih ne završe već radije započnu novi veliki plan jer im je bitno da je nov, kreativni su i obožavaju pričati, zeleni su oni koji izbjegavaju sukobe, pokušavaju svima ugoditi, teško im je reći ne i ispuniti će svoje obaveze no nikad neće preuzeti inicijativu ili žuriti ili učiniti nešto spontano i kreativno, oni vole stabilnost i stagnaciju, plavi su hladni i proračunati, šute i kalkuliraju, uvijek provjeravaju sve činjenice više puta što ih čini sporima, ali točnima, ne vole se oslanjati na osjećaje i rade sve po pravilima.

Knjiga je podijeljena na poglavlja koja se orijentiraju na određene situacije te iza svakog kratkog uvoda imamo zastupljena sva četiri tipa osobnosti i njihovo reagiranje u danim situacijama ili objašnjenjem kako drugi te tipove vide ili kako bi se mi kao suprotne ili iste boje trebali odnositi prema toj konkretnoj boji. Ponekad su uz boje navedene i šaljive priče koje bi trebale demonstrirati tu boju u stvarnom životu.

Ova je knjiga vrlo jednostavna te ne zahtijeva nikakvo predznanje o ovoj temi. Toliko je jednostavno napisana da se ponekad čini prejednostavnim. Autor želi dočarati ovu temu svim čitateljima pa polazi od činjenice da većina neće imati mnogo predznanja o ljudskom ponašanju i tipovima ličnosti što može dovesti do toga kako neki od čitatelja mogu osjećati da im se autor obraća svisoka odnosno smatra ih manje inteligentnima. U nekoliko sam se primjera i ja tako osjećala kad sam čitala njegove izmišljene priče koje je dao kao primjer u određenim situacijama jer su izmišljeni ljudi u tim pričama bili toliki stereotipi neke ljudske karakteristike da bi bilo pravilno usporediti ih sa shvaćanjem 'viceva o plavušama' potpuno istinitim i neupitnim. I to ne samo za tu jednu 'plavušu' u pitanju već o svim ženama rođenima s plavom bojom kose. Ljudi nisu primjer samo jedne te boje, ljudi su komplicirana bića koja su kombinacija tih boja i svaka od boja dolazi do izražaja u nekoj situaciji.

Autor ove knjige, Thomas Erikson, ima impresivan život iza sebe, visoko obrazovana osoba sa raznolikim radnim i životnim iskustvom i nadasve iskustvom rada sa mnoštvom različitih ljudi što je nešto zbog čega ga cijenim i vrednujem njegovo znanje. No, imam osjećaj kako u ovoj knjizi često i on sam to napominje i to malko previše jer ispada poprilično egoističan i sveznalica.

Nakon detaljnog čitanja ove knjige i istraživanja ove teme te samog autora ja još uvijek ne znam u koju bi boju trebala strpati sebe. U različitim životnim situacijama pokazujem karakteristike sve četiri boje i ni jedna po ovim stereotipima koje je on prikazao mi nije dominantna. To me poprilično razočaralo. Posebice zato što je autor napomenuo kako ni jednom nije sreo osobu sa sve četiri boje i kako smatra da nije vjerojatno da one postoje. Vjerojatno je onda stvar u činjenici da nisam dovoljno osviještena o samoj sebi, mom karakteru i mojim osobinama. Bilo bi mi drago kad bi autor koji tvrdi da toliko zna i da u jednom razgovoru može raspoznati kojim bojama osoba pripada, malo približi i nama samima kako da to otkrijemo za sami sebe, a ne samo za ljude koji nas okružuju. No, to bi bilo očekivati nešto više od ove pojednostavljene verzije već postojećih tipova osobnosti.

There's little doubt about its contents, with a book named The Federal Government is Run by Idiots! This represents plain and simple thinking, and is a "nasty little book" that pinpoints federal government processes as the cause of forces destroying American society and democratic ideals.

Taxpayers in revolt receive a presentation that looks like an illustrated comic book coverage in many places, featuring large-size print and an approach that would seem to indicate its appropriateness for a younger audience; but which actually will prove accessible to busy adults who want more of a quick synthesis than the usual weighty political read presents.

Appearances aside, it should be noted that The Federal Government is Run by Idiots! is a book most decidedly directed to adult American taxpayers, and is crafted in such a manner that even those with low reading skills or who are unfamiliar with statistics, math, or politics will find it enlightening.

There's no love of either Democrat or Republican leaders in this damning report: both receive 'F' marks, along with the government entities that have supported bureaucratic snafus and leaders that promote tax codes with sweeping debt attached to them. James E. Joyce maintains (and supports with facts) that were it not for the federal government's shenanigans, the average American would have $40K more in their pockets annually for retirement income.

There are many eye-opening accusations (supported by statistics and facts) that will give liberals and conservatives alike pause for thought - including that the current social security system is akin to a "federal Ponzi scheme" and should be replaced by a National Investment Retirement Fund. Joyce maintains that social security has been a dishonest scheme since its instigation in 1935, and advocates a better replacement vehicle on the state level. He points out that in 1935, "the average American died before reaching age 65." Now that longevity has increased, proponents of the system are trying to assure that the benefit age is adjusted so that those who pay into the system actually don't reap its full benefits.

It should be noted that professional editing would have made the book a smoother read. But as a counterpoint, this is intended as a comic book and, as such, is a more inviting way of comprehending many serious facts without the grammatical density of comparatively complex discussions of the subject.

The Federal Government is Run by Idiots! is no light discourse, but a solid review that is purposely presented in a format that will lend to accessibility and inspection by even the busiest reader. After a section of admonitions and damning evidence, the meat of the book lies in a second section that details the 'Restoration of the American Dream'.

This may be a nasty little book; but truthful examination of a complex system is never a cozy read.  Want to change things so that Americans can retire at 52 and lead a better life? The keys included here offer food for thought on making this process a reality.