Book cover of Giving Kids a Fair Chance

Book description

A top economist weighs in on one of the most urgent questions of our times: What is the source of inequality and what is the remedy?

In Giving Kids a Fair Chance, Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman argues that the accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality in…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Giving Kids a Fair Chance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love this book because it summarizes in a few pages a lot of scientific work on a very slippery and thorny topic: early education.

It is not a self-help book; it does not provide detailed advice to parents. It rather demonstrates three principles that can inspire policy as well as educators’ actions.

First, people’s skills and personalities are not determined only by genes, but can be changed as the environment interacts with genes.

Second, inequality due to the birth lottery is not diminishing in the US, but is rather increasing.

Third, investing in adolescent education could enlarge inequality, whereas…

From Maurizio's list on human development in advanced economies.

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Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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The Duty of Memory by Vicki Olsen,

Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.

This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…

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