PDF Discrimination and Disparities Thomas Sowell Books

Product details Hardcover 320 pages Publisher Basic Books; Revised, Enlarged ed. edition (March 5, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1541645634

Discrimination and Disparities Thomas Sowell Books Reviews

• This author knows his topics and is able to share them in a way which keeps you engaged. It's really interesting how often the actions taken to combat perceived discrimination end up being core cause of the same. This is the type of material which needs to be taught in our colleges and universities. Just the facts and the truth supported with scientific research. In the first Chapter Disparities and Prerequisites he lays bare the role I.Q. has on one's real success.
  
  Children of parents with professional occupations were found to hear about 2,100 words per hour at home. Children in Working Class houses heard 1,200 words per hour where children from homes which are on welfare were found to hear 600 words per hour. What about the advantages of being the first born in a family? Or are they really disadvantages? Hard work and perseverance are so important to really achieving success. But so is the personal desire to succeed.
  
  His examples of those companies who have gotten so much right and dominated their industry for decades are lessons which must be paid attention to closely. He lists examples of house hold name type companies known globally that learned first hand the massive price they would pay for not evolving and staying abreast of technology changes. Even more startling is how these same companies once controlled the industries but failed to change with the times and now are nearly relegated to being footnotes in history.
  
  Another great book by Thomas Sowell.......
• Thomas Sowell is the man to read if you want a realistic, objective perspective. No goofy, over emotional, politics-of-envy-and-jealousy progressive narrative here.
• Gives a logical view of the decisions being made around us. Example after example points out the numerous effects of what many might think are "good and bad" political or social decisions, and why something thought to be as common as "equal outcomes" isn't as common as we think. Overall I found this to be an enlightening and wonderful audio book, but this is not something you just listen to in the background while you sleep or complete complicated task, paying attention is paramount to understanding the points made throughout the book. Definitely listen during daily commutes or long rides in the car.
• Thomas Sowell is a true gem of the American experience. A black man who grew up in NY during the 30's. A black man who got into Harvard BEFORE the Civil Rights Act. Sowell speaks in the common tongue for the common man, but delivers timeless wisdom and much needed common sense. Within the "short" book, you will find enough hard information which will enable you to never loose a debate again when it comes to the topics covered. Like most of Sowells books. A voice that will carry on for generations. Glad to live in the time of Sowell.
• Sowell always does a good job showing that vision doesn’t equal outcome. Just because people want something to be true doesn’t make it so. He points out how people misuse statistics and , unfortunately, how people maintain incorrect positions in the face of conflicting evidence. Sadly, we have swapped opinions for analysis. Keep writing Tom, we need you.
• Throughout his long and distinguished career Thomas Sowell has been a consistent stickler for truth. In this book he takes empirical aim at the truth about outcomes. In short, social scholars and economists inevitably over-simplify cause and effect and fail to accept that “grossly unequal distributions of outcomes are common, both in nature and among people, in circumstances where neither genes nor discrimination are involved.”
  
  The book is short, to the point, and very clearly written. You don’t need a degree in sociology or economics to follow. The arguments are steeped in common sense, which is where we often lose sight of the truth in our admirable but misguided desire to do the “right” thing.
  
  The problem is actually much bigger than the areas of social justice addressed in the book. It is a problem that is quickly eroding the value of all of our political, social, educational, and economic discourse.
  
  Type “This is what science says about …” into Google and you’ll get close to 1.5 billion hits. News outlets and social commentators use the heading daily. In reality, however, “science”, which is an empirical methodology, not a body of knowledge, probably says nothing about the topic, and whatever apparent “facts” the author includes probably say even less in the larger context of truth and meaning.
  
  Technology, of course, is making the problem worse. Technology gives a voice to every would-be opinion-maker, reinforcing the false perception, in all of its 1’s and 0’s, that math and statistics are inevitably and inherently “true.” It’s a ruse. To the extent it is true it is typically so only in the one dimension in which the writer of the article used it to advance his or her point. That’s not the multi-dimensional and dynamic world, however, where most important reality, like opportunity, compassion, and fairness actually lives.
  
  My only complaint is that the electronic book is over-priced for what it is. The author doesn’t typically set the price and Mr. Sowell is a premium intellect that deserves a premium price tag on his thoughts. It is, nonetheless, an empirically supported conclusion, so I’m hopeful Mr. Sowell will forgive me that.