About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Alexandra Robbins
Rave The Washington Post Anyone contemplating going into teaching might be dissuaded after reading Alexandra Robbins’s latest work, The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession. That is not a disparagement of her book but rather a testament to its scope, accuracy and unflinching honesty. Never before have I read any work that so clearly depicts the current realities of teaching in America’s public schools, a subject I have followed closely as a recently retired teacher with 22 years of experience ... It isn’t that Robbins fails to shine a light on the considerable joys and rewards of working with young people ... Brutal detail ... Almost every page of my review copy of The Teachers is marked with my comments and exclamation points as I encountered situations and circumstances remarkably similar to those I experienced myself. This is an important book that will come as no surprise to the nation’s teachers.
Jonah Lehrer
Mixed The Washington Post What proves most captivating in Mystery will surely be driven by a given reader’s interests, and indeed, the book lends itself to skimming and sampling. I found myself most drawn to discussions of literature and entertainment and less so to those on sports and gambling. But certainly there will be sports fans who prefer Lehrer’s examination of how the rules of baseball were changed to create more mystery in a game that had become too predictable—or gamblers interested to learn how slot machines have developed over time ... his argument [on education] is too narrowly focused ... Taken one at a time, each of Lehrer’s stories is entertaining, but by the end of the book, they doesn’t necessarily hang together in a cohesive argument. It’s a bit like making a dinner from a tray of assorted hors d’oeuvres. Most of them are tasty, but they don’t really add up to a full meal.
Diane Ravitch
Rave The Washington Post ... a thought-provoking, painstakingly researched account ... offer[s] an insightful examination especially of the harmful and reverberating effects of George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2002, and later, Barack Obama’s Race to the Top program, begun in 2009 ... Though the history of the school reform movement and its impact on schools and students are alarming, the story Ravitch sets out to tell is not one of hand-wringing despair. Rather, it is a heartening account of how teachers, parents and union leaders across the nation have been fighting against the damage caused by the Disrupters ... Ravitch’s message is not one of gloom and doom, but rather a rallying cry that shows how people everywhere are wising up and fighting back ... There is much to learn from this book, and much inspiration to be found. The book is not written as a how-to guide for the Resistance. It is a scrupulously thorough study of a tumultuous period in American education. However, the conscientious reader who seeks strategies to combat the pervasive damage done by the Disrupters will find useful information here, along with affirmation that fighting back is possible.
Heather Won Tesoriero
Positive The Washington Post Imagine a public high school science classroom where there are no textbooks, no tests, no assigned homework. The lab is filled with extraordinarily gifted students who are hard at work on self-directed research projects that seek to find cures or treatment strategies for diseases like Lyme, Ebola, Zika and cancer. They are aided in their research by top-flight scientific instruments seldom seen in a high school setting. Their teacher’s mission is not to grade them but to support them, both in their scientific endeavors and in their personal lives. And over the course of a year, they rack up a stunning number of wins across the science fair circuit. And if this idyllic classroom sounds far outside the bounds of what most have come to expect in a public high school setting, this is precisely what makes this book both a captivating and somewhat frustrating reading experience ... It is a fascinating glimpse of a teaching environment that most public school teachers will never know.