tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post7456381429398349323..comments2024-02-14T17:33:59.172-04:00Comments on The Written World: The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan GottschallKailanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11136262232046813471noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-60775053092578901872012-05-26T21:57:56.162-03:002012-05-26T21:57:56.162-03:00Hmmm...this does sound a little bit of a mess actu...Hmmm...this does sound a little bit of a mess actually though the idea behind it sounded neat at first. Thanks for your honest review.Jennershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08044537551139633301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-7093619362363704062012-05-26T09:06:02.656-03:002012-05-26T09:06:02.656-03:00Gender stereotypes exist, but the question is why?...Gender stereotypes exist, but the question is why? If most girls prefer pink and playing with dolls is it a result of the way their brains are wired or the way their choices are presented? Same with boys. Does playing with Leggo people and/or toy soldiers count as playing with dolls? Who chooses the toys that the children play with? How much identification with a parent exists? What colors have their parents painted their rooms and used for bedding, etc.?<br /><br />Children are influenced by their parents' choices and by social and cultural traditions AND by social media, but are there other differences we can't yet identify with certainty? And aren't there differences that we should celebrate? <br /><br />My daughters were both princesses (mostly influenced by television commercials, not me)and adventurers. When I visited one of my granddaughter's kindergarten classes, the girls raced and wrestled along with the boys, but that was outside. I wonder what it would be like to watch them all day and see how their play went. And to document the changes, statistically, from K through the 4th grade....jenclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06046532245054911248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-81776950510582837522012-05-25T00:31:13.988-03:002012-05-25T00:31:13.988-03:00I too am drawn by the subtitle, it's something...I too am drawn by the subtitle, it's something I believe with all my heart.Sueyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02926501219758538615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-44789240331367932512012-05-24T17:06:53.578-03:002012-05-24T17:06:53.578-03:00The idea of memory and how people don't set ou...The idea of memory and how people don't set out to tell a lie but end up remembering things differently than they happened is very interesting to me! I could read a whole book on that alone, and it's very interesting as it relates to memoirs specifically. <br /><br />Thanks for being on the tour!trishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10688001590373132381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-53399928955599621962012-05-24T16:26:41.557-03:002012-05-24T16:26:41.557-03:00Yikes! This sounded really interesting from the bl...Yikes! This sounded really interesting from the blurb, but his perceptions of gender would just piss me off. It sounds like he takes a very narrow, heteronormative, and stereotypical view of gender. I will be skipping this one. Great review!Samanthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395241786319410882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-32204952662818494162012-05-24T16:09:55.923-03:002012-05-24T16:09:55.923-03:00Hi Kailana, I feel a little awkward showing up at ...Hi Kailana, I feel a little awkward showing up at this discussion--like I've barged into a room where people have been talking about me. Hope you don't mind :) First, thanks for taking the time to read and review the book. I truly appreciate it. But I think you, and Nymeth also, have the wrong idea about the material on children and gender. I think there's an is-ought distinction that we need to hold in mind. Just because boys do more violence play and more rough-and-tumble play for example--much more, across cultures--doesn't mean that that is a good thing that we should try to promote. And the same goes for the patterns in girl play. I'm not saying they are good, just that they "are." The reserach is very up to date. A lot of it was culled from Melvin Konner's highly regarded The Evolution of Childhood (Harvard 2011)--which is itself a meticulous survey of all the literature in the area. This book shows that a lot of the stereotypes we apply to boys and girls (and men and women) don't hold up well under scrutiny. But it suggests that other patterns hold across cultures and socialization regimes, and likely have a biological basis. Obviously,I think it's wrong to conclude from this that, say, boys who play with dolls--or girls who play with trucks/guns--are weirdos and that we need to cram them back into their proper, "essential" gender boxes. These are statistical patterns, not absolute rules. <br />Thanks again,<br />Jonathan GottschallJonathan Gottschallhttp://www.jonathangottschall.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-59544818915528688542012-05-24T13:32:37.082-03:002012-05-24T13:32:37.082-03:00As I read the synopsis of the book, I could feel m...As I read the synopsis of the book, I could feel my fingers itching to get my hands on a copy of this book. The more I read of your review, however, the more disappointed I became. It could have been so much more from the sounds of it.<br /><br />Is it a recently published book? It's a tour book so I imagine so I wondered though with the gender issues you and Nymeth raise.Literary Felinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13079276242303738719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19926025.post-30995714841860834082012-05-24T11:25:09.510-03:002012-05-24T11:25:09.510-03:00"I almost felt like he chose theories and ide..."I almost felt like he chose theories and ideas that fit his book, called them fact, and moved on with his book."<br /><br />Yep, exactly! And I completely agree about the gender discussion too. The problem I have with essentialist approaches to gender (other than them being factually wrong) is exactly that by naturalising certain ideas about gendered behaviour they amount to policing people's gender performance; to telling people like you or me or your friend's daughter that there must be something wrong with us if we're not complying with "nature's plan" - we must be abnormal. It's the kind of thing that makes me want to hit people in the head with copies of Delusions of Gender :P<br /><br />It sounds like our feelings about this book were very similar. I do love the premise, though, and I enjoyed bits of it. Someone left me a comment the other day recommending Story Species by Joseph Gold. I'll have to give it a try at some point.Ana S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16092495983972185943noreply@blogger.com