Some Book Reviews

I have meant to get some of these reviews up a while ago, but I have been struggling to keep my blogging time lately (the wife and I are expecting twins in May 2010 and I have been busy trying to get ahead on my research). Anyway, I'll sort of do short reviews here and if you have specific questions, leave a comment and I can go in more detail. 

Cluetrain Manifesto: 4 out of 5 and a nice historical read. (Amazon) (Overview Video)

I really didn't know what to expect from this book. It is sort of seen as one of, if not the, seminal work that heralded in the details of the Information Age. The problem is that it was written in 2001 and so I was worried that it would be too old and all the ideas would be common knowledge now. I would say that my guess was about half right. All the references to the intranet did get a little old and the big players of that day are not the big players today (reading it one would have thought Sun Microsystems was responsible for it all). The 95 theses are the heart of the book and do have a multitude of ideas, but I think 50 would have been plenty. Further, the book gets a little too ambitious at times for my taste. All the ideas about business being redefined entirely were a bit much. But, what I loved was their vision in 2001. They clearly saw where this was going and tried to warn people that they must change their ways or be run over. They were speaking to business, and many businesses have been run over already, but I think there are many relevant points for education as well. Certainly enough that it is worth your time to read this relatively small book packed with an outstanding vision. 

The Bottom Billion: 4.25 out of 5 - a must read for social activists. (Amazon) (Overview Video)

I enjoyed this book, although it will be more economically focused than most people will like. Further, the other thing that annoyed me slightly was the author's heavy reliance on his own work (as if he has all the answers). But, outside of the economic focus and the self-referencing, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The author identified traps that countries fall into and can't get out of; they get stuck in a repeating pattern away from development that includes civil wars, natural resource traps, logistical problems, and bad neighborhoods. These traps keep countries from developing and the rest of the world is not helping out all that much because they are not addressing these fundamental traps with their aid. It's a provocative argument and one that I have trouble disagreeing with in general (although specific points are debatable). As I was reading it though, certainly I thought there were lessons for U.S. states as well. We don't have coups on a regular basis for sure, but the landlocked issues, the bad neighborhood issues, the natural resource issues (hello, Kentucky ... coal!) and even the problems with federal aid sort of seem to cross over not just from The Bottom Billion, but to our bottom 100 million here in the U.S. as well. Anyway, the take away is the idea that uninformed social activism really isn't all that helpful. There are real barriers to development that once removed allow societies to enter the global marketplace. Pouring in aid that doesn't address these barriers makes folks in the Western world sleep better at night, but doesn't fundamentally alter the futures of those folks stuck in the bottom billion. 

The Assault on Reason: 2 out of 5 - not worth it at all (Amazon) (Overview Video)

This book was an utter disaster, so don't bother with it. I enjoyed Gore's arguments on climate change, so I thought I would give him another spin on larger democratic issues ... my mistake. It was basically a Bush bashing book. Now, I dislike George Bush and his time as President as much as the next guy, but this was beating a dead horse. Not just a little beating the dead horse ... hours and hours of doing it. I totally understand Al Gore's resentment of George Bush (yes, the election probably was stolen from Gore), but that's the breaks and there is no use in ruining your reputation on a personal vendetta (although he would never admit that and takes pains to make it seem impartial). Anyway, I don't want to spend more time on it because I still thank Al Gore for making us aware of climate change. So, keep your positive picture of him and don't read this book.

Earth: The Sequel: 3.5 out of 5 - Details on the Energy Revolution (Amazon) (Overview Video) 

When I say details ... I mean a heck of a lot of them. I literally think this book introduces you to over 150 new companies that are all trying to make money on the new energy revolution. The crazy thing is that none of them are profitable. The crazier thing is that all of them have good ideas. The market is not going to support all of these good ideas, but it will support some of them - even without the market reflecting the true cost of coal and oil. If Congress gets their act together this upcoming year and lets the market be more reflective of the truth, then the market may well support a lot of these new companies. The book doesn't have any breakthrough ideas on which energy source may be the leader of the revolution, but it does give you a whole lot more data on how those companies are likely to emerge (and if you are smart, you can start to think about how you can get involved/make money from this). So, why the low rating? It was not exactly an easy read. There was too much detail and it really took a lot of energy to listen to details on the 129th company. But, if you are legitimately interested in understanding how the Green Revolution is likely to play out, then pick up a copy. 

Nudge: 2 out of 5 - I'm nudging you against it (Amazon) 

I really disliked this book, but I think a lot of you will like it. I am skeptical generally of behavioral control, or behavioral economics as it is being called ... call it my own libertarian streak (this is not unlike the part of me that disliked Outliers). Libertarian is important here, because the authors call their ideological background libertarian paternalism. Here's my rub, though. In order for this framework to work and nudges to be necessary, people must be stupid (of, okay, let's say underinformed). What kind of ideology starts with the proposition that people are stupid, they will always be stupid, so some of us (who knows who gets to pick) need to nudge them into doing things that we think are best for them (if they knew what we knew, they would make the same decision too). How incredibly undemocratic. The collective will rarely make the right decision and some group of elite need to make the right decisions (and build choice architecture). Who gets to make the decisions ... well, law professors, I guess. Anyway, you get what I took from it. They make a benign case, of course, but the natural endpoint is a scary place for me. 

Innovator's Solution: 4.5 out of 5 - A wonderful business book (Amazon) (Overview Video)

I normally don't like business books, so I'll call this one an innovation book within the context of business. I liked this one because there was so much to take away. The basic idea is that there are a set of good business practices that allow small companies to compete with the big boys if you are in a disruptive marketplace (i.e. not just improving on an existing product, but creating a new new product niche). But, all those good business practices are just good business practices to me anytime. It's a model that puts innovation at the forefront and I really think that organizations, especially educational organizations, must always be innovators. Pretty much every few pages there was another good idea that I can apply to my own business. Anyway, get on the disruptive innovation curve and pick up a copy, I don't think you will regret it.  

Making it Cool Because It is Necessary

A nice quote from a NY Times article on computing education:

Hybrid careers ... that combine computing with other fields will increasingly be the new American jobs of the future, labor experts say. In other words, the nation’s economy is going to need more cool nerds. But not enough young people are embracing computing — often because they are leery of being branded nerds.

I have certainly found that to be true in my own job. I'm an educational law guy that knows a lot about computing/technology. It opens lots of doors that otherwise wouldn't be opened. And, I'm not all that interested in hiring people to work with me if they don't also bring at least some background in technology. It's just an essential component of today's (not tomorrow's) careers.

h/t Sylvia Martinez

New Adequacy Suit in Florida

A new state constitutional challenge based on educational adequacy has been filed as Case No. 2009 CA 004534 in the Circuit Court for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, Leon County, Florida.  

The plaintiffs, a collection of advocacy groups, parents, and students, seek a judicial declaration that the education system in Florida fails to meet the constitutional command that "Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education," pursuant to "a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders."   

The last time an adequacy challenge was brought in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed it on separation of powers grounds (see here), but that decision was rendered prior to a constitutional amendment strengthening the language surrounding the statement of the duty of the State.  It will be interesing to see where this goes. 

Rose at 20 - The Symposium

This is the third and final installment in the Rose series from the Rose at 20 event we held in cooperation with the University of Kentucky (ed & law) and the Education Law Association. The prior two installments are here (the players) and here (the Governor).

In this installment, we have the symposium that constituted the second half of the program. This component was more nationally focused about the future of education finance, having reflected on the twenty years of school finance adequacy cases post Rose (the first half of the program was more local focused). The speakers we invited for the second half of the program were Craig Wood of the University of Florida, William Thro of Christopher Newport University, and William Koski of Stanford University Law School. These three will be publishing their papers in a special issue of the Kentucky Law Journal set to arrive next year (I'll announce when it is ready and I'm happy to report all the papers are in!). Finally, the symposium was moderated by Kern Alexander, who not only is a school finance scholar himself, but was also a central player in the Rose litigation (and his ideas impacted all subsequent litigation). Thanks to all of those scholars for participating.

Anyway, on with the show:

Rose at 20: Kentucky Law Journal Symposium from UK College of Education on Vimeo.

If you want any more information about Rose or the Rose at 20 event, please contact us here at UK and we'll be happy to accommodate. 

A New CASTLE Blog: 1 to 1 Schools

Excited to pass along word of the latest of the growing CASTLE blogging stable: 1 to 1 Schools. Scott McLeod has all the details here and I can say that I met Nick Sauers (the main author who is also a former principal) and was very impressed by him so I look forward to some great information. I even granted his interview request to talk about legal issues (it was a little on the spot to pardon my stumbling around). Anyway, CASTLE continues to grow and I can't wait to start telling you about our efforts here in Kentucky to support CASTLE as well.

Cert. Grant in Christian Legal Society Case

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the 9th Circuit case out of UC-Hastings College of the Law arising from the denial of student activity funds to a campus religious group. 

The Christian Legal Society is an organization open to all members to the UC-Hastings community, but only members who affirm that they are both Christian and heterosexual can vote or hold office.  The College of Law based its denial of funding on its anti-discrimination policy.  The student group's challenge is based on the theory that the application of the College's policy to it is an impermissible infringement on the First Amendment expressive associational rights of the members. 

Paul Caron has collected numerous helpful links related to the case here.  You can track the case at Scotus Blog, as well. 

Databases and RSS Feeds - Extending Information Flow

Spent some wonderful time today with our education librarian, Brad Carrington. I had a specific purpose related to our College's dissertations, but we stumbled onto an area that I think can be really helpful in the future ... query-based rss feeds from educational datasets.

So, here is the "educational law" query rss feed from the ERIC database ... and ... there are some surprisingly useful things in there. I added it to my Google Reader. You can also search by author, so here is the RSS for "Bathon" using an author search (yeah, I know not a lot is indexed). But, here is the author RSS for Martha McCarthy (which is much more useful). Anyway, you get the picture.

Some other datasets are now incorporating this feature, like dissertation abstracts (login required), but not all are there yet. The legal databases have sort of been there for a while with their alerts features, but I find those less useful than the RSS feeds, which I can have in my e-mail like the alerts, but I can also put in my reader, embed on a blog, put on my facebook page, etc.

Use your own search terms to create your own RSS feeds and then put them in your reader.