Great quotes and other passages are examined in historical and contemporary context.
Vardon’s slim text includes quotations from both prominent male historical figures and those who are, perhaps, slightly less well-known—Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Virgil and MacArthur, but also H.W. Beecher, Viscount Morley and Leo Burnett. The format is narrative, an arrangement unlike established reference sources such as Bartlett’s. Vardon’s approach is to present a quote and then provide “pithy commentary” for a “life altering read.” The author readily acknowledges that the book is “hardly the most comprehensive work” (its 20+ pages make it more like a booklet), but the work’s significance is still elusive. Is Vardon being self-deprecating with his so-called pithy commentary, or is he more serious, as when he states that the reader will be informed and inspired? The author’s opinions on issues such as welfare, feminism, war, capitalism and Nelson Mandela are fairly clear, so perhaps the book’s aim is to state opinions on contemporary issues and use the quotes as a backdrop. The delivery of the quotes and the real-life examples that illustrate them is problematic in several ways. There’s no apparent arrangement regarding subject, quoted figure, chronology, etc. Indeed, dissimilar quotes are included in the same paragraph. One such paragraph speaks of medicine, then quickly diverts to character. Another paragraph has several passages on self-destruction, then awkwardly switches to passages on language. There are also errors in syntax, including the displeasing redundancy of telling the reader what he’s just been told (e.g., “No work of quotations would be complete without quoting the great Nietzsche, and so I’ll quote Nietzsche”). The commentary that follows each quote is often mundane and even bizarrely neutral. Several comments simply assert, “So true. So true.” Sometimes the commentary is far too literal, especially for subjects so potentially and deeply philosophical. It seems a more thorough examination of all of these quotes is in order, one that includes exploring the nature of the quote, context, author’s meaning and various interpretations. No author credentials are given, but Vardon maintains that he is a student of history. The work could be improved with the simple addition of page numbers and an index. A confusing, dissatisfying assemblage.
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2011
ISBN: 978-1466379008
Page Count: 26
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A potpourri of previously published articles and lectures, as well as chapters written specifically for this book—all explaining what the theory of multiple intelligences is and how it can be applied in today's schools. A decade ago, Gardner (Education/Harvard; The Unschooled Mind, 1991, etc.) put forward the idea that intelligence should be measured in more ways than through verbal and math tests that are standard for schools. He postulated seven basic ``intelligences,'' including language and logical-mathematical but also kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and spatial. Gardner gives all seven equal weight—but schools and testing institutions don't. Hence, children who are weak in language and math skills but strong in musical or interpersonal ``intelligence'' will suffer in the traditional classroom. Here, the author attempts to show how schools can address those differences so that students will be happier, more productive, and more able to cope with life. Except for a chapter on the Key School in Indianapolis, which has built its curriculum and method of teaching around multiple intelligences, teachers and administrators won't find a how-to on restructuring their classrooms here. Look to apprentice and museum programs and to the community for that, says Gardner (somewhat vaguely), leaving schools' options wide open. Strongest here are discussions of how to reframe testing and assessment methods and of how the limited view of intelligence can defeat both student and teacher. Research at Harvard's Project Zero (which Gardner directs) has developed new assessment materials, explained here, that help to measure all seven intelligences. Repetitious, thanks to its format; but even so a good introduction, along with Gardner's Frames of Mind (1983), to the theory of multiple intelligences.
Pub Date: March 31, 1993
ISBN: 0-465-01821-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The genially unorthodox author of Mindstorms (1983) again makes a stimulating case for computers as a primary route to knowledge, revising and expanding earlier observations in view of disappointing school policies of the past dozen years. Rejecting most schools as ``sluggish and timid'' in assuring access to learning, Papert (Mathematics and Education/MIT) divides the conservative education world into ``Schoolers'' (who acknowledge underlying problems but focus on short-term urgent ones) and ``Yearners'' (who create their own small-scale alternatives) as he considers why technology hasn't revolutionized school learning. Championing computers for offering forms of learning that can be ``quick, immensely compelling, and rewarding,'' Papert contends that Logo (the computer language he conceived) is a superior mode of learning for young children, closer to their informal learning style than traditional classroom approaches and invaluable as a medium for most areas of study. But schools have ignored computers' broad capacities, he finds, isolating these tools from the learning process instead of integrating them into all areas of instruction. Papert offers a steady supply of examples—from his own extensive experience as well as from assorted classrooms—providing evidence of computers as powerful learning allies. He also understands the nature of learning—the importance of the personal element in any classroom exchange; the need to adapt a learning-environment design to its social and cultural milieu; the ``internal censors'' that students bring to required work; and the way that ordered ideas can emerge from an imprecise, undirected process. Even those who resist Papert's belief that the foundation of modern schooling is faulty will agree with his central theme that the ability to learn new skills is the most critical skill of all- -and that computers have a unique, accelerating role to play in developing that ability.
Pub Date: June 16, 1993
ISBN: 0-465-01830-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
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