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mikitiale's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
As informative and important as this book is when it comes to the issue of college acceptance and equity in education it was a total slog. I had to force myself to finish it by telling myself I could read two chapters of a fiction book for every chapter of this book I finished.
bootman's review against another edition
5.0
Although they make me furious, I love reading books on how meritocracy is a myth. This book focuses specifically on college, and it’s one of the best I’ve read. I’ve read a few books that touch on this topic, but these authors introduced me to a lot of new data that I was unaware of. This book will help you understand how if you’re not born into the right family, equality of opportunity is non-existent in the United States. You’ll learn how from birth to college, upper class and wealthy kids are always going to take priority getting spots in colleges until something changes in this country. The authors offer some great solutions to this issue as well.
casually_booking's review against another edition
5.0
Great read that provides solid facts and findings surrounding the myth of meritocracy in our higher education system. If you watched the Operation Varsity Blues documentary Netflix and were intrigued, you should read this!
whataudreads's review against another edition
3.0
2.75 stars
Don't let my star rating fool you: I really did enjoy this book. I learned so much from it and this has introduced me more thoroughly to a topic I would love to explore even more. I thought it was incredibly well-researched, and the authors conveyed very complex concepts in a passionate and coherent way.
Some of my main issues were honestly personal. I tend to prefer a more narrative nonfiction style, with anecdotes and first-hand interviews. I don't think every nonfiction book has to have that in order to be good, but unfortunately this book's lack of that made it quite a drag to get through at times. It can become a little overwhelming reading statistic after statistic, study after study, with very little else to break it up.
Beyond that, it did feel like this book was longer than it needed to be. It has eight fairly long chapters, each covering a different topic. However, there was a ton of overlap between the different chapters and I began to notice statistics or examples being repeated over and over again. It was hard to get through the end of the book when I felt like it was consistently demonstrating that it didn't have anything new to say.
I appreciated that on top of just laying out the problems, there was also a chapter dedicated to solutions. They felt realistic and it was a really good note to end on. It also never really felt particularly partisan, and acknowledge problems with actions within both political parties.
Overall, I think anyone who reads this book would learn something. I will definitely be thinking about the things that I read in this book for a long time. As I read more about this subject, I don't know if this book will hold up as the best one I read regarding it, but it was a solid introduction.
Don't let my star rating fool you: I really did enjoy this book. I learned so much from it and this has introduced me more thoroughly to a topic I would love to explore even more. I thought it was incredibly well-researched, and the authors conveyed very complex concepts in a passionate and coherent way.
Some of my main issues were honestly personal. I tend to prefer a more narrative nonfiction style, with anecdotes and first-hand interviews. I don't think every nonfiction book has to have that in order to be good, but unfortunately this book's lack of that made it quite a drag to get through at times. It can become a little overwhelming reading statistic after statistic, study after study, with very little else to break it up.
Beyond that, it did feel like this book was longer than it needed to be. It has eight fairly long chapters, each covering a different topic. However, there was a ton of overlap between the different chapters and I began to notice statistics or examples being repeated over and over again. It was hard to get through the end of the book when I felt like it was consistently demonstrating that it didn't have anything new to say.
I appreciated that on top of just laying out the problems, there was also a chapter dedicated to solutions. They felt realistic and it was a really good note to end on. It also never really felt particularly partisan, and acknowledge problems with actions within both political parties.
Overall, I think anyone who reads this book would learn something. I will definitely be thinking about the things that I read in this book for a long time. As I read more about this subject, I don't know if this book will hold up as the best one I read regarding it, but it was a solid introduction.
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