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    The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure
    Unavailable
    The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure
    Unavailable
    The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure

    Written by Greg Lukianoff

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?

    First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.

    Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.

    This is an audiobook for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 4, 2018
    ISBN9780525627128
    Unavailable
    The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure

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    Reviews for The Coddling of the American Mind

    4.5/5

    197 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book is written for the coddled it seems, with its condescending recap of points at the end of each chapter. There is not really enough material to justify the length of this book and I found it pretty disappointing how frequently the authors repeated things. Tiresomely recursive.
    • 5/5
      You can tell a book resonated and provoked thought when you find youself repeatedly introducing the ideas into your discussions with others. Coddled has created such an experience for me, more so than any book I’ve read in a while. It has important points about how parenting has changed and how are world has become polarized in multiple ways. Most importantly, this book highlights the dangerous trend in which universities are abandoning their commitment to open discourse in reaction to the current generation of student’s demands for “safety.” Coddled is a book about what happens when the clash of ideas gets perceived as danger instead of dialogue. The authors follow their assessment with proactive ideas that could help. I found this book informative and useful. I’d recommend it to anyone concerned about liberty, education, politics, or parenting.
    • 4/5
      Good, but had a hard time not being defensive during the first half of the book as it felt fairly strongly slanted against my political views. However, much of the discussion from part 3 helped to frame the ideas the authors were discussing. Would highly recommend this book from part 3 on. The appendixes have some excellent summarizing suggestions for students, parents, teachers and schools as to how to avoid committing the sins detailed in the book. Would like to re-read in the future to evaluate myself for another reaction. Would recommend for college bound teenagers and educators of all kinds.
    • 4/5
      The authors describe recent trends, such as “safe spaces”, campus radical actions, etc. interesting ideas, though authors focus on the fringes to generalise. Some interesting suggestions for parents.
    • 5/5
      completely radical in it’s approach to our current political and social situation. and by radical i mean a compelling and meticulously thought out argument supported by facts!
    • 5/5
      Absolute brilliant objective account of the American political polarization and it's relating factors. I highly recommend this book to all for a stimulating and constructive outlook on life in general.
    • 5/5
      This Book is Spot on amazing, In depth explanation on the minds of today's youth on college campuses. I have seen these behaviors but I have never knew the severity of the situation.
      I recommend anyone to listen or read.
    • 5/5
      Right on the mark! Like Haidt’s previous book The Righteous Mind, I expect this book will be massively influential and may just be what will propel the public conversation toward actual change in university policies. Bravo!
    • 4/5
      A lot of good stuff here to help understand what is going on in colleges these days, about free speech, trigger warnings, safe spaces, PC, etc. I think the title and some of the writing in the book is a bit awkward, but the issues are very real and they are addressed in a sensitive way.
    • 5/5
      Thoughts and take-aways:1. Excellent book, though disturbing. Published in 2017, but strangely prescient of political happenings in 2020/2021. It's not just adolescents who experience the myths described in the early chapters.2. I'm struggling with what to *do* with this information. I want to engage with students on these topics and see if they agree. I want to push against the need for safety described in the book, but I don't know that it will do any good.
    • 4/5
      This book is so relevant to our times. I cannot stress it enough. To me, the premise is simply this phrase from the book : "PREPARE THE CHILD FOR THE ROAD, NOT THE ROAD FOR THE CHILD". It simply shouts its meaning.Also, I have to include an excerpt, quoted by the authors, of Chief Justice John Robert's commencement speech at his son's graduation from middle school. It's just too brilliant! Here it is:"From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will get lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes."

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      this book has changed my life. I need four more words ok i think im done

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Should be required reading for all high school students and parents of high school students.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book does not disappoint a long-time Haidt fan. His arguments continue to be exquisitely measured and explained to appeal to any reasonable person willing to listen. He does not suffer for collaborating with co-author Lukianoff, either, who seems to have the same style.The title makes it sound like it is going to be a conservative or curmudgeonly rant - "coddle" is such a smug and "when I was your age" kind of verb. But you can trust Haidt. He's very sympathetic, for example, to what even the most strident and intolerant protesters may be trying to achieve; he's just pointing out, clearly and convincingly in my opinion, how they are harming their cause more than helping. That is one major area covered in the book - college protest; and although I was familiar with many of the cases described here, such as Charles Murray's appearance in Middlebury in my home state of Vermont, I had no idea of the extent of some of the other things going on in the rest of the country, like the truly anarchic takeover of Evergreen College in Washington state. Again, don't think this is just some conservative outrage-generating listing of cases where those liberal students went too far in their political correctness. There are some eyebrow-raising incidents described here, but the authors aren't out simply to raise ire about them; but to explain where they feel things went wrong.Another subject covered in the book is the overprotectiveness of parents in our modern culture, and effects of excessive screen time on kids; they authors see these as roots of the excessive fragility of the younger generation of today's adults.The authors hold up cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a proven successful method of dealing with depression and anxiety, and use its tenets as models of how we SHOULD be raising children and encouraging young people to deal effectively with their feelings of fragility.Major fault: I don't understand why they felt they had to end every chapter with a summary - and then end the book with an overall summary, as well! For Pete's sake, have a little faith that I know what I just read.The only other fault was really just a personal disappointment that there was a lot in it about raising children, and the rest was almost all about college students - I guess if I had read the description I would have been more prepared; but I selfishly wanted more things to apply to my own life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Certainly a timely book during this political climate. Some may disregard a
      it purely on the title but the authors are genuinely interested in increasing the mental resilience of American youth. In no way does this book devalue injustices that have occurred and do occur
      in the lives of many individuals but it does not promote the current response tactics we've recently seen in many of our academic institutions. Rather than retreat into resentment and victimhood, this book offers a framework for maintaining an adaptive minde
      set and promotes antifragility.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fantastic book which spans trends in parenting, politics, universities, and culture to analyze the forces that were at work for what some call “iGen”, kids born after 1995, as they grew up and then went to college. It also works as a guide to use Cognitive Behavioral Techniques for better mental health, and as a manifesto for free speech and the tolerance of others. I appreciated the book for its balance and careful rationality, at time when things are so polarized and skewed, and for how it avoids pointing fingers or making simplistic claims. I found great wisdom here, and it really made me think.The books starts by describing three “Great Untruths” the authors believe are harming people and the country at large: (1) What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker, (2) Always trust your feelings, and (3) Life is a battle between good and evil people. It then looks at some disturbing behavior on college campuses like Berkeley, Evergreen State, and Reed College, as well as at Charlottesville. Lastly, it examines six confluent and interrelated forces that have emerged in recent times: political polarization, anxiety and depression, paranoid parenting, the decline of free play in children, college campus bureaucracy, and the quest for social justice. Some of the more hair-raising passages were the description of events at universities, mostly those that are on the east or west coast and liberal. The authors describe various acts of censorship of ideas and a ‘call out’ culture that has many attributes of a mob, one that feeds off of the feeling of being offended and demanding speakers be disinvited, classes be shut down, articles be redacted, and professors be fired over the smallest of things, instead of keeping an open mind and engaging in debate. In one key insight into the behavior, the authors relate it to mental habits seen in people who suffer from anxiety and depression (which have risen dramatically in young people, girls particularly) – namely, exaggeration of danger and other cognitive distortions, and the suggestion solutions take a holistic approach. And, at the same time, they are careful to point out the benefits of pushing for social changes and the horrifying actions of the alt-right, including outright racism and violence. Great stuff, very thought-provoking, and these quotes will give insight into other points the book makes:On free speech:“The notion that a university should protect all of its students from ideas that some of them find offensive is a repudiation of the legacy of Socrates, who described himself as the ‘gladfly’ of the Athenian people. He thought it was his job to sting, to disturb, to question, and thereby to provoke his fellow Athenians to think through their current beliefs, and change the ones they could not defend.”On good and evil, from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who after being sentenced to the gulags, reflected that he had nearly joined the NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB), and could just as easily have become the executioner, rather than the condemned man:“If only it were so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”On inclusion, and overcoming ‘us vs. them’ thinking, the words of Pauli Murray in 1945:“I intend to destroy segregation by positive and embracing methods … When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them. Where they speak out for the privileges of a puny group, I shall shout for the rights of all mankind.”On learning, from Chief Justice John Roberts, addressing his son’s middle-school graduating class in 2017:“From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will get lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.”On parenting, fostering strength in kids, referencing Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book ‘The Black Swan’:“Wind extinguishes a candle but energizes a fire. He advises us not to be like candles and not to turn our children into candles: ‘You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.’”On polarization, from Julia Ebner’s, ‘The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism’:“What we have is the far right depicting Islamist extremists as representatives of the whole Muslim community, while Islamist extremists depict the far right as representatives of the entire West. As the extremes [pull more people from] the political center, these ideas become mainstream, and the result is a clash-of-civilizations narrative turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy.”On safety, from Van Jones:“There are two ideas about safe spaces: One is a very good idea and one is a terrible idea. The idea of being physically safe on a campus – not being subjected to sexual harassment and physical abuse, or being targeted, specifically, personally, for some kind of hate speech ‘ ‘you are the n-word,’ or whatever – I am perfectly fine with that. But there’s another view that is now I think ascendant, which I think is just a horrible view, which is that ‘I need to be safe ideologically. I need to be safe emotionally. I just need to feel good all the time, and if someone says something I don’t like, that’s a problem for everybody else, including the [university] administration.’ … I don’t want you to be safe ideologically. I don’t want you to be safe emotionally. I want you to be strong. That’s different. I’m not going to pave the jungle for you. Put on some boots, and learn how to deal with adversity. I’m not going to take all the weights out of the gym; that’s the whole point of the gym. This is the gym.”On truth, and its importance, from Northwestern University professor Alice Dreger’s ‘Galileo’s Middle Finger’:“Evidence really is an ethical issue, the most important ethical issue in a modern democracy. If you want justice, you must work for truth. And if you want to work for truth, you must do a little more than wish for justice.”