Joel Stein’s snarky In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You are Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book presents a delicate balance between humor and erudition. Stein shows that elites run the world and why we need to understand how the world really works. Yes, people yearn for equality, but sadly we live in an unequal world. The trick is to find out what you’re really good at–something you’re elite at–and improve your skill set. Along with his witty analysis, Stein presents plenty of examples of people who have succeeded by following their passion. What is something you do better than most people? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PART I: The populists 1
1. Flippin’ whippy 3
2. Baptist row 14
3. Underthinking 34
4. I was sent here by God 49
5. The table of knowledge 55
6. Canadian key parties 70
7. An unclean spirit 83
8. The 33 party 95
PART II: The elites 103
9. Resistance dinner parties 105
10. The loop 113
11. Puppet pig 132
PART III: The populist elites 145
12. Dilbert 147
13. Care actors 165
14. A meme guy 176
15. Littering on the death star 185
16. Son of Fidel Castro 199
17. The boat elite 204
18. Tucker 216
PART IV: The elite populists 241
19. The time travel mart 243
PART V: Saving the elite 257
20. The meeting of the concerned 259
21. I said, “good day, sir!” 276
22. The love dare 285
Acknowledgements 301
My kids do me the honor of saying I make the world’s best lasagne. But other than that signal achievement, I don’t think there’s anything marketable that I do better than anyone else.
Lasagne is fantastic! My wife’s lasagne is also marvelous – but I’m the best in helping her …
A bit OT:
Lasagne wasn’t known in Hungary so when we visited my sister in Munich who offered us some of hers my wife immediately asked how to do this.
Of course the different sauces and cheeses were no problem for her and back home we tried it too – my duty was the stacking.
The result was so good that we often do it again when we have a larger group of visitors.
PS:
Later I found a variation – I put some green peppercorns in the white sauce, also fantastic for those who like the special taste of the green pepper.
My secret is fresh-crushed fennel seeds and LOTS of cracked black pepper.
Wolf, I’m a fan of green peppercorns in anything!
Deb, you are an elite commentator, too! And, I love lasagna!
Well, as a mathematician it’s rather obvious what I do best …
But almost more important was the fact that 35 years ago my skills in writing and holding a conversation in English were not run of the mill. That helped me get several special projects, doing my seminars on databases in English at some international companies (I remember Dupot’s headquarter in Geneva), accompanying a Siemens representative to London and so on.
The biggest success (I may have written about this before):
In the early 80s the IT manager of a customer (large specialised financial institute) where I was an external consultant told me that he and his leading people would be going on a trip to the USA to gather information for the next generation IT and their new headquarters which was being planned:
Start with a bank in Manhattan (Chase Manhattan?), visit the IBM factory in White Plains, fly to Dallas for a visit and then to SFO for another bank and then go into Silicon Valley to the big IBM software lab.
On the way back they’d go to a facility in Dallas, visit the PC production in Boca Raton and then the World Bank in Washington before flying back …
Very good, I said, you’ll surely get a lot of information – and the he asked me whether I wanted to accompany them …
Well, of course, but the costs …
No, he said – you’d be paid for this job, our chief developer told us that he needs one more person who speaks really good English, understands IT and can have high level discussions with the US experts – and you’re only candidate for him!
It was not only a fantastic experience for me where I learned a lot about life in the USA, driving etc but we also saved the company a lot of money. We identified those projects which were really useful but also some hard- and software which didn’t come to fruit …
Our bosses were so happy that we repeated this kind of trip again a few years later – and a third one!
Going on holiday to the USA would have been extremely expensive in the early 80s – but a few years later the Deutsche Mark rose against the Dollar – so I could take my first wife to Florida, to see if she liked it and later to the typical “German tour” in the West: San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley, Vegas and so on.
Florida in November/December became our favourite destination, repeated this several times – in those days there often were extremely food “Last minute” offers – before the snowbirds arrive around Xmas.
The second mentioning of Dallas should have been Raleigh/Durham – the Research Triangle.
Wolf, sounds like you’re elite at a lot of things!
Deb can send me left-over lasagna any time — although from what her kids say, I doubt there are any leftovers. **sigh**
What do I do better than anyone else? Not buy this book, i suppose.
Jerry, you are one of the best bloggers about forgotten books that I know of!
I’m smarter than most people I know. No, I wouldn’t say that (out loud, anyway). But seriously, folks, like Deb I have a head full of useless trivia. I also have a very good memory (sometimes I do wish I had that thing that Marilu Henner supposedly has, where you can remember everything, but other times maybe not) and can remember a LOT (go ahead, ask), though not from my early childhood.
As for lasagna, that is definitely a favorite. It is my #1 go-to order in our favorite Italian restaurant (I have to fight the urge to order it every time we go there), as well as other restaurants. It even makes me nuts when I get Carrabba’s promos for free lasagna in the non-winter months when we don’t have one near us. So yes, next time we’re in Slidell, Deb, please put that on the menu!
Jeff, yes…you are one of the smartest guys I know (Jackie is no slouch, either). Diane and I love Carrabba’s (especially Sangria Sunday!) and have taken home their free (and delicious) lasagna many times. Carrabba’s lasagna is good, but I’m sure Deb’s lasagna beats it by a mile!
I can do nothiing better than most. Indeed, when it comes to doing nothing, there are few who excel me.
Dan, I consider you an elite movie critic. And, a world famous expert on HAMLET.
In the current (not very good) Reacher novel, “Blue Moon”, a character Reacher has just helped out of a jam attempts to put off further assistance by telling Reacher “I’m sure you have things to do”. Reacher replies “generally I avoid having things to do”. That’s me and, apparently, Dan.
Michael, just by coincidence, I’m reading the Jack Reacher series in “chronological” instead of published order. I just finished THE ENEMY. I suspect it’s a lot better than BLOOD MOON which is getting a lot of mixed reviews.
I’m good at things like Trivial Pursuit because, while I might not be an expert at a lot of things, I know at least something about a lot of different things.
Jeff, my family banned me from TRIVIAL PURSUIT games because, like you, I know a lot of random facts.
I’m pretty good at being retired. I’m also pretty good at being grumpy, as much as I try to avoid it. Oh, and pretty good at gardening. But all those “pretty good”s don’t add up to better than anyone else.
Rick, you’re one of the best book reviewers around. You’ve cost me hundreds of dollars as I immediately buy books after reading your excellent reviews! Keep it up!
Thanks for the complement, George.
I also am not very good at anything in particular. My head is full of useless trivia. Although as I get older it sometimes takes me longer to remember stuff. I once won a trivia contest by being the only person who knew Donald Ducks middle name. Bartholomew.
Steve, I did not know Donald Duck’s middle name was Bartholomew. Or…I had forgotten it.
I also am good at remembering silly jokes – without writing them down.
Your comment reminded me of a joke.
Donal Trump is somewhere in public, when a commotion starts and one of the Secret Service guys calls out:
Mickey Mouse!
After everything is cleared the boss asks him:
Wtf were you thinking?
The guy answers:
I wanted to say “Donald Duck” – but somehow I made an error …
Wolf, that’s cute!
I’m a damn good smart ass!
Bob, I agree.
I can make an engaging, overlong list.