An insightful, approachable exploration of a scourge of self-harm in an “idyllic American town.”
Two academics research the origins of teen suicide and its societal ramifications.
Grounding their study within the confines of pseudonymous Poplar Grove, a wealthy, predominantly white suburban American community, sociologists Mueller and Abrutyn present an erudite study on several “suicide clusters” inexplicably plaguing the region. While their initial goal was to better understand how individual community members processed suicide losses, their study eventually branched out to encompass the mechanics of youth communal environments, the dilemma of mental health stigma, and how these social forces shape adolescent suicide risk. Careful not to draw conclusions based solely on their individual perceptions, the authors’ groundwork included epistemological analysis, archival research, community observations, and psychopathology survey data. Most productive and illuminating were their intensive sociological interviews and focus groups with individuals from Poplar Grove High School, where the authors put both youth and adult participants at ease with conversational and nonjudgmental language. Mueller and Abrutyn also probe the nature of whether or not suicidal behavior is contagious, how these clusters developed and persisted into a “suicide contagion” at upscale Poplar Grove High, and the school’s response to these losses. The students’ stories are alternatingly sad and thought provoking. Mueller and Abrutyn’s conclusions settle on the patterned vulnerabilities of Poplar Grove youth, identifying as credible culprits its gossipy, tightly knit community, cultural ideals, and demanding, ingrained “high-pressure achievement culture.” Concise, accessible, and well organized, the book succeeds in offering readers from any competency level a better understanding of youth suicide and the proactive intervention strategies currently aimed at its prevention. The authors also provide an empathetic connection to those most at risk and effectively debunk a variety of myths—e.g., “talking about suicide does not cause suicide; it prevents it.”
An insightful, approachable exploration of a scourge of self-harm in an “idyllic American town.”Pub Date: May 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780190847845
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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