by Charles Duhigg
This is a book we're probably going to use in our tenth grade health course. It does a good job of explaining how habits work in real life and the steps that may help you identify cues and rewards if you are trying to modify your habits. It shares stories of difficulties in changing habits which will hopefully encourage the kids to develop good habits from the beginning. There are also examples of how people succeed because they spent time anticipating difficult situations, planning a response, and roll-playing it.
"Willpower isn't just a skill. It's a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there's less power left over for other things."It can also be strengthened, like a muscle, when it is exercised.
There's a chapter on data collection by Target. (They all collect data; Target just made for a good story.) It's very disturbing how much companies know about us and how we seem to happily hand it over to them in exchange for a few coupons: thought-provoking for a teen.
A later chapter on gambling is similarly eye-opening. Between the information in this book and what I read in The World Beyond Your Head (post coming on this excellent book...eventually), I'm starting to view the gambling industry as a curse on all mankind, so I'm glad First Son will have a chance to read a bit about it.
This is not a book by a man of faith, or at least, not a believer willing to admit it. For example, when writing about Alcoholics Anonymous, Mr, Duhigg explains how those who believe in a higher power are more likely to remain sober.
It wasn't God that mattered, the researches figured out. It was belief itself that made a difference. Once people learned how to believe in something, that skill started spilling over to other parts of their lives, until they started believing they could make a change.Or maybe it's God.
He also reports on gay rights organizations in a laudatory manner. We have been discussing this sort of thing for a few years now, so my tenth grader will be surprised.
I also felt like he might be pushing the habit argument a little in the chapter on the civil rights movement. He qualifies the whole thing by saying there were other factors involved, but even so I think he oversteps. As always, I think Rosa Parks deserves a larger role. I don't think she was just a tired woman who let the lawyers use her case; she was an active participant and decision-maker in the whole process. But I haven't actually read enough about her to be certain.
Finally, the chapter on Saddleback Church is odd. Perhaps I'm just uncomfortable with the idea (the author's not the church's) that being a part of a community of faith is nothing more than a series of habits. I thought about skipping this chapter in our lesson plans but have decided it might be interesting for First Son to consider how people outside a church think about what's happening inside it.
Overall, a fairly quick and interesting read that brings up skills I want First Son to realize exist and topics I'd like him to consider. I'm fairly certain I'll include it in our health course.
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